Aunt Lauren and Uncle Josh

In honor of my sister and her husband, Josh, who are about to be parents in a few weeks, I dedicate this post to the incredible auntie and uncle they have been to my kids.

Lauren came over after school yesterday and stayed through dinner. Both of our husbands were working and we had a great time together. She has less than 4 weeks to go in her pregnancy and she is starting to feel it. We have all been there. It's pretty miserable!


Last night at dinner, the boys were discussing with each other the relationships in our family. Matthew told Thomas, "Aunt Lauren is Mommy's sister. That makes her our half mother!"


This might sound absurd in other relationships, but it is fairly true in ours! Lauren became an aunt to Matthew when she was 19 years old. Although it took a tiny bit of time for her to get used to the fact that she wasn't the baby anymore ;) she has been an incredible aunt for 6 1/2 years!

Lauren loves to be at my house and adores my kids like they were her own (after all, she is their half mother!). She laughs at their antics and she helps me out in a pinch. Lauren is always there. Thomas looks more like Lauren than me! My kids' childhood memories will be full of times with Aunt Lauren.

Josh became an uncle to my kids when Matthew was 2 1/2 and Thomas was 6 months old. I met Josh when Matthew was 18 months old. He was a seasoned veteran of unclehood with his sister and brother's kids and I feel like he now loves my kids like his own nieces and nephews.

Uncle Josh teaches my kids strange and hilarious things! For instance, Josh is a huge Georgia fan. He taught Matthew the Georgia fight song, and I believe Matthew sang it upwards of 1,000 times all during football season and beyond. I would get Matthew's school work home and written all over it would be,

Glory, glory to old Georgia!
Glory, glory to old Georgia!
Glory, glory to old Georgia!
And ppppppppppppp to Auburn!

Two weeks ago after church, Josh and Lauren took my grandmother home from church. They asked Matthew if he would like to come along for the ride. Josh got in his car, opened his mouth, and a bug flew in his mouth! He said something along the line of, "Oh, well! Bugs are protein!"
Matthew is really in to eating healthy. He will say things like, "God make apple trees, he didn't make Twizzler trees!" The whole "bugs for protein" thing really stuck with him. All throughout the next week, Matthew would catch june bugs and tell Thomas that he really needed to eat one because they were full of protein!

On the way up to Dallas the other day, Matthew was asking me questions about the Civil Rights Movement. We saw a sign for MLK boulevard which sparked the conversation.

Matthew said, "Do you know that when a black man marries a white woman, their kids are, you know, sort of brownish/whitish?" I thought that was interesting!

"Matthew, where did you hear about that?" I asked.

"Uncle Josh told me!"

Who else!? I found out later that Matthew was asking lots of questions about people's races to Josh. I guess he saves interesting questions for him!

Thank you, Lauren and Josh for being incredible to my kids. They adore you! I can't wait to return the favor with Baby James!

A Day at the Farm

All the excitement of Sunday overrode the events of Saturday. I will go ahead a write about those now!





About 4 times a year, Bryon and I take the kids to Aunt Bernie's farm. I have written about A.B. before. She is Bryon's great aunt but is more like a grandmother to him. He and his siblings spent many weekends with her. Some of his greatest memories as a kid were at Aunt Bernie's.
Aunt Bernie is 84 years old. She still runs her cattle farm. Just a few weeks ago, she hand delivered a calf! She bales hay. She has a vegetable garden. She is amazing! She walks around like a woman half her age. Other than the wrinkles courtesy of spending most of her life outdoors, you would never guess how old she really was!

Saturday was ME's first time to really enjoy herself. She came in October but was not so aware of her surroundings. Not this time! She adored the cows. She mooed at them. She kept talking to them in her really high pitched voice. So cute! My in laws met us at the farm and we all had a great visit.

The boys had fun like they always do. Give them trees to climb, cows to feed, walking sticks to travel, and a tank filled with water and sometimes frogs, and they are good to go for the day!

Everytime I go down to Aunt Bernie's I think we should do it more often! Her property is close to College Station and the roads are lined with oak trees and bluebonnets (Yes, I saw my first ones of the season on Saturday!).

By the end of the day, we were zonked and it was time to come home. The next time we go, we are hoping that the tank will be full and stocked with fish. I love to fish and am excited about fishing with the boys!

Our Dallas Underwater Adventure has come to a close!

I am home, safe and dry this morning! We decided last night, that trying to brave the roads when it was dark was too risky, so Matthew and I got up at 6 a.m. and headed home. I have never been so happy to see roads that weren't covered in water!


This picture was taken last night when I realized that the road home was not passable. It wasn't taken with a telescopic lens. I was that close to floating cars! I have always seen pictures like this on the news, but never up close. Six Flags was underwater and someone died fairly close to where we were when she got caught in the rising water.

Overall, we had a great time and the flooding was just part of the overall picture. I enjoyed my class and am excited to try my hand at vegetable gardening. I better have GREAT tomatoes after all I did to learn how to grow them!

We also ate at a fabulous place called EatZi's. There are only 5 of them in the country and it is more like a European market than a restaurant. Being that I am a "Foodie" and all, I marveled at how beautiful the displays were and struggle to decide what to eat. I have dedicated my next 5 trips to Dallas to eat different things at EatZi's!

It was also fun to hang out with the newlyweds. Matthew adores my brother and now adores his new wife (I do, too!)! It was fun reliving the wedding.

Overall, a fun day. We went to Bryon's aunt's farm on Saturday and I will write about that tomorrow!

Stranded in Dallas!

I've got to admit that this Spring Break was a little boring. By the end of the week, I was ready to get out of town. I had seen a brochure for a class on how to grow tomatoes at my favorite nursery in Dallas and I thought that Matthew and I would make a fun day of visiting the newlyweds, going to their church (which Matthew adores) and taking the tomato class.

That is when boring went out the window!

On the way to Dallas, it started pouring. When I mean pouring, I mean torrential downpouring. I could barely handle Bryon's big truck which I drove so Michael could move things into his new apartment.

It poured, and poured, and poured. A small creek near where we ate flooded and the trees were underwater. There was standing water on the road. I finally chickened out and left my truck at a restaurant so Michael could drive me around!

When it was time to leave, I said a prayer and Matthew and I headed out.

We got about 3 minutes down the road.

All the underpasses on the way out of town were flooded with cars floating by. Police tape was everywhere. I took a picture of it that I will download when I get home.

I backtracked and found Michael up the way a bit. We drove around for a while trying to find a way out of town. Police cars/fire trucks were everywhere.

We weren't leaving town.

I called Bryon and told him that we were going to have to spend the night. Matthew erupted in the backseat, "Thank you, Jesus!"

He might be a little late on his first day back at school.

I hope that I will be able to write more from HOME soon!

Happy St. Patrick's Morning to ya!

You haven't have had to read my blog for too long to know what Matthew's favorite part of St. Patrick's Day is. Yes, my friends, Matthew has been on a "green" hunt this morning to see that everyone complied with the wearing green rule today!

Poor Thomas didn't stand a chance. He got ready for it last night.

"Mommy, I am going to wear my Star Wars underwear to bed because they have green on my bottom. That way when Buddy wakes me up, he won't pinch me!"

This morning, Bryon and I were talking in the kitchen and out Matthew flies out of his room like greased lightning to see if we were wearing green.

Bryon wasn't.

Bryon got pinched!

I realized that I wasn't wearing green so I ran the other way into my room to throw on a green sweat shirt.

Thomas got out of bed and came into the kitchen.

"Thomas, you aren't wearing green!" said Matthew, gleefully.

Thomas turned around and started shaking his tail feathers at Matthew to show him that, in fact, he was wearing green.

"Thomas, underwear doesn't count! Deedah (my dad) said last year that underwear doesn't count!"

His memory continues to amaze me! Apparently last year, Dad wasn't wearing green and Matthew had asked him if his socks or underwear were green. He didn't want to risk the "double pinch back" if he was wrong. Dad had told him that there might have been green on his underwear but it didn't count.

Matthew pinched Thomas.

Thomas had a melt down.

I told Matthew that, in fact, green underwear counts if that is all you are wearing. I lightly pinched Matthew's arm because "technically" there wasn't green on it.

"How does it feel, Matthew? Do you think Thomas enjoyed you doing that to him?"

Matthew, with tears in his eyes, ran back to his room and told me that he didn't want to help me make Irish Soda Bread this morning.

This all before 8 a.m.

Happy St. Patrick's morning!

My many different names

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name)
Smokey Trails

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandmother's maiden name on your mother's side, your favorite candy)
Gray Butterfinger.

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL" NAME: (first initial of last name, first two or three letters of your first name)
B. Eli

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite animal, name of high school)
Hummingbird Midway.

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Ann Montgomery.

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
Bar Vanmag. (Don't have a pet currently. I just used my last pet!)

7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your father's middle name spelled backwards)
Nna Nala.

Irish Soda Bread

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day this week, I thought the recipe of the week should reflect my Irish heritage. But first a brief history:

My mother grew up on Long Island in one of the first little towns off the Long Island Expressway outside of NYC. My mother's neighborhood was not the American melting pot. Here, it was more like vegetable soup! Everyone clung fiercly to their heritage. Many of my mother's neighbors were first generation Americans. I went to her neighborhood full of tiny/closely spaced houses several years ago and my mom and aunts told us cousins the names of all their neighbors and where they were from (Italians, Poles, Swedes, Germans, Irish, etc.)! This seems so funny to me because where I live, the only ethnicity that people know about each other is, "Born in Texas" or "Not born in Texas"!

All of the tiny houses on Mom's street had families full of kids. My mom and aunts joke that all the neighbor kids wanted to go to their house and play because there were only 4 kids in it!

The Sullivans were the Irish family. In fact, all of my mother's 8 paternal great, great grandparents were born in Ireland! Yes, my grandfather, Francis Joseph Sullivan was definitely Irish! His grandfather's last name was O'Sullivan, but they dropped the "O" when he came through Ellis Island. Both my maternal grandmother and grandfather grew up in Rhode Island but moved to Long Island when my grandfather was transferred there by the Navy (Grampy was a captain in the navy during WW2). They originally lived in Pawtucket, RI because many of the Irish and English immigrants at the time were sponsored by textile companies in New England.

Although my grandmother's side of the family were recent immigrants from England (her grandmother, Elizabeth Ann who I am named after, spoke with an English accent!), many of my grandfather's favorite Irish dishes made there way to her table. One of the recipes was for Irish Soda Bread. My grandmother made this frequently and so did my mother. I will be making it on Friday! It is good with coffee in the mornings!

Sidenote: My dad's ancestors came from Edinburgh, Scotland. Dad, and the rest of us, are huge Scotland lovers. There was always a friendly debate in our house on who has done more for the advancement of civilization, the Irish or the Scots! The book, How the Irish saved Civilization helped Mom's cause quite a bit! ;)

This is my great grandmother's recipe. It is called soda bread because bread was traditionally made with soda rather than yeast in Ireland.

Irish Soda Bread

3 3/4 C. flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 C sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 C raisins
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
Mix dry ingredients

2 beaten eggs
2 T. butter
2 c buttermilk
Mix wet ingredients

Mix wet and dry ingredients until thick batter.

put in 2 loaf pans or iron skillet
Make the sign of the cross in the batter (like any good Irish Catholic!)
bake 45 minutes or until done at 350.

Eat fairly quickly because it tends to dry out. Also good toasted with a little butter!

Why I am wanting time to slow just a bit

I never said life with three kids 6 and under would be easy, or even a lot of fun at times. Nothing like an extended weekend trip 7 hours away to make me realize that life will get a lot easier in a few years!

However....

I am really enjoying the ages of my kids right now. There is just something really special about a 6 year old, 4 year old, and 18 month old!

I can say without a doubt that although I love to visit the memories of my precocious 2 year old Matthew, I have never enjoyed an age with Matthew like this one. I have said over and over again that I adore kindergarteners, and I have enjoyed every minute of this age with him. Did I say every minute? OK, most minutes!

He is fun to talk to. He has interesting questions about life. I can take him everywhere and anywhere and know that he can handle it. He loves to read and I have enjoyed watching this passion of his develop. This morning, he woke up before me and was sitting in the living room reading a Magic Tree House book about the Titanic. A boy after my own heart! He is a good brother to Thomas and ME. Sometimes, I miss the days when he said hilarious and new things every day. I miss his baby teeth and baby fine hair, but he is starting to look, act, and talk like a school kid, and that has its advantages as well!

There is something so sweet about the kindergarten year. The kids don't have tons of homework. They get to learn how to be students. I will be very very sad when Matthew is no longer a kindergartener! I have a mental picture of Matthew being a 2nd or 3rd grader and talking about kindergarteners being "babyish". For now, though, he is my special little kindergartener, and I want to enjoy every second of the last 10 weeks of this magical year.
Sometimes, I look back at pictures of my curly/tow headed little Thomas and miss him being an 18 month old. But, the kids' pediatrician has even said that 4 is a magical year! Thomas continue to gain independence but is incredibly sweet. He is able to do just about anything that Matthew can do which thrills his soul!

One thing that I have appreciated about my second child is that I realize how quickly the preschool years go. I am savoring hearing him squeal with delight when Dora or Blue comes on, because I know when he hits school, Dora will no longer be cool. Thomas is learning how to read, and how to draw. It makes me sad thinking I only have 1 1/2 years left until he starts school! I am trying to enjoy every moment.

I believe I have more pictures of each of my kids (or at least more favorite pictures) at 18 months than any other age. OK, she technically turned 19 months yesterday, but still. In many respects this is a dangerous age...all of the mobility and none of the reasoning. On the flip side, it is also enjoyable that ME is very mobile and continues to gain more and more independence. She can feed herself and she can tell me what she wants for the most part.

She is coming up with new words and phrases daily. Today at lunch, we were eating with friends and she said, "Ona Go!" She is also saying "Hold me!" I know that her baby face won't last forever and I try to memorize every square inch of it before the chubby cheeks start to vanish. And, since more than likely she is our last baby, I want to savor every second of this year.

I just wanted to write this down for the ages. The first few years of parenthood for me went by so slowly. Now that we are on a school schedule, I can't believe how fast the time has gone! In the years that come, life will possibly be a little less chaotic and I will face new challenges as the early challenges begin to ease. But for now, I want to enjoy my children as 6, 4, and 1 1/2 year olds!

A beautiful weekend

Life is good right now.

I feel like I am coming out of the dark in terms of sickness and busyness. I have always tried to live intentionally and enjoy the gift of life that God has given to me, but lately I admit that I have been living on autopilot. Just going through the motions, always happy when the end of the day or the end of the week arrived. I made a consious decision this weekend to start enjoying the simple pleasures in life again and to not wish time away. That is why this weekend was so beautiful!

Yesterday, Bryon helped run a forum at church on what worship is. He helps head up the worship planning ministry at church and the purpose of the meeting was to see where members of the congregation were in terms of their definition of worship.

I helped by making breakfast for the crowd of about 40 and arranging lunch. I did get to sit in on a little and was so encouraged by what members of my church were saying. Hearing what others were feeling was energizing to me and I couldn't wait to be in worship this morning. Our church seems to be in a prayer revival lately and I am so happy to be a part of it!

This afternoon, I spent a great deal of time outside working in the yard and playing ball with the boys. I also grilled out tonight and enjoyed the sights and smells of cooking outside. I made grilled asparagus for the first time in months and loved it! The weather couldn't have been more picture perfect.

Afterwards, Bryon took us all on a surprise drive (one of my favorite activities) to our lot. It was right before dusk and the drive out to the property is beautiful...especially this time of day, especially this time of year. I just took it all in. We were able to talk with several friends out there, and we enjoyed not having to rush back home for our strict 8:00 on a school night bedtime policy!

A beautiful night, a beautiful weekend. Life is good.

Great day!

What a fabulous, beautiful, fast paced day this has turned out to be! There is nothing like feeling of coming out from under a nasty stomach virus to make you feel like you have a new lease on life!

I drove the kids over to the dentist first thing this morning. Matthew's tooth is again fixed and the dentist reminded Matthew to try hard not to bite any food with that tooth. Ummmm...OK. Matthew told him, "But that is my biting tooth!" We will keep our fingers crossed that this one lasts longer than 8 days.

Next, we took Matthew back to school and participated in a walk for juvenile diabetes. Since Matthew knows a little girl with this disease, he worked like a madman raising money for the walk. He told my brother-in-law that if he gave $10, Matthew would "vote" for the Georgia Bulldogs all next season even if they were playing Baylor! How big of him!

We had a great time at the walk, and when it was time to go, Matthew gave Thomas a big hug and told him he would see him after school. When I backed the car out of the parking lot, Thomas kept looking in the rear window and told me how much he was going to miss Buddy today while wiping the tears from his face. Break my heart!

Next, it was off to meet my mother-in-law half way between our houses (about 1 1/2 hours) to exchange cars. We drove their Yukon to Oklahoma and they had our Avalon. We had a nice lunch together and it was off to pick up Matthew! What a whirlwind day!

I enjoyed the drive so much. I guess after working in home care, I have a great love for country roads. I always choose them over the interstate when I have the time to do so. There were tons of redbuds in bloom. I keep waiting for my first bluebonnet. Maybe next week?

I am taking a break from playing outside with the kids to write this. It is a gorgeous day and after riding bikes, playing basketball, and swinging kids, I am pooped!

Yah!!! It's Spring Break! I am looking forward to having no set schedule and just enjoying the kids all week. Have a great weekend!

Today

Well, I am home this afternoon enjoying a few quiet moments before going to get the kids. After the wedding, my cousin got a bad stomach virus, my brother-in-law got it on Monday, and guess who got it last night? Me! I was up most of the night throwing up, etc. It was hard getting the kids out the door feeling so dehydrated, but a bag of popcorn, diet coke, and 4 thin mints have seemed to rejuvenate me! I really crave quiet home time and today has been a blessing to me.

While resting this morning, I got a call from the school nurse to inform me that Matthew's new bonded tooth fell off. Well, that lasted a whole whopping one week! Off to the dentist again! The dentist told me that it might need to be fixed about once a year. Do you think this is the "once a year" that he was talking about? I am just so glad it didn't fall off last weekend.

I will be watching my carpool buddy's little girl today as she is out of town for her sister's wedding. We have so many things in common and I have enjoyed getting to know her this year. Isn't it strange that both of us had siblings get married one week apart!?

I am busy getting summer vacation plans in order. We will probably go on one week long family trip, a trip to the hill country for an extended weekend, and a romantic weekend trip with Bryon to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I love planning events and have had fun these last few days mapping out some ideas!

I am always sad to see winter go, but this one has been particularly hard on us healthwise. We have been so blessed in years past with good health. I am guessing that Matthew starting kindergarten and dipping into a new germ pool hasn't helped. Bring on the warm weather!

ME's kidney report

Thomas, ME, and I spent most of the day at the hospital in the next town over. Since ME's doctor was concerned that she had a kidney infection so young, she wanted to see if the infection was due to a structural problem or just a fluke, so she had to endure two tests today.

I am so glad that she did! We found out that ME has kidney reflux. Basically, some of the urine that is in the bladder goes back up the ureters and into her kidney. It is just on one side, but the radiologist said that on a severity scale from 0-5, ME was a 3-4.

I talked for a while to a friends whose daughter had the same problem starting at 18 months and got lots of good information from her. I still haven't talked to ME's pediatrician but we have some decisions to make in the near future. See if she grows out of it and keep her on constant antibiotics, a noninvasive procedure that usually helps kids with a severity of 1-2, surgery, etc.

This is yucky stuff, but ME had her catheter put in in the pediatric oncology department of the hospital. You don't have to spend too much time there to appreciate all the blessings in life. This is a minor problem in the great scheme of things! One that can be fixed. I just want my sweet girl to be healthy and to keep her kidneys working the way they are suppose to!

ME and Thomas

Pictures are now trickling in from family. I loved this one of ME. After she walked down the aisle, a church member got her and took her to a rocking chair. She said ME was out in minutes! This picture was taken right after I picked her up.


I didn't know a picture of this existed! Thomas was showing off his sweet dance moves and was too hot to wear his shirt! I put it back on after he cooled off a bit!

Spring

Ok, anyone who reads my blog knows that I am much more of a winter weather gal than a summer gal. Give me a cold, gray, blustery, snowy day over sunshine anytime. It isn't so much that I don't like spring- I acutally love spring. Its just that I know before I blink my eyes, the sun will be scorching, the mosquitoes will be out, and I won't be able to walk to my mailbox before beads of perspiration form on my brow!

It is here though. Winter came and went without giving much effort. We went out in the backyard and played quite a bit yesterday and had a great time. Here are a few things I am looking forward to in the next few weeks:

*My first bluebonnet sighting! I love when our highways are dotted with bluebonnets and indian paintbrush. When I first see this, the pressure of getting the perfect bluebonnet picture creeps into my mind, but this is a whole other post.

*Not having to search for matching socks. We live in flip flops for the next 9 months!

*Starting to garden again. I adore working in the yard until about mid-July. My Bradford Pears are starting to bloom. (See picture)

*Looking at my kids legs in shorts. I forget how cute they are in the winter!

*Fresh fruits and veggies again! I spend a lot of time at the farmers market starting in a few weeks.

*Spring break! Can't wait to have Matthew home with me for a week.

*Bryon coming home before dark.

Spring--What's not to love?

The wedding through the eyes of my kids

MATTHEW

Matthew proved again why I feel like kindergarten is a magic age for kids. He did beautifully at the wedding. Of course, I am not ashamed to admit that quite a bit of bribery was involved! We promised Matthew that if he was perfect, we would get him some baseball cards and some Magic Tree House books. Nana promised him a 10 dollar bill. Right before heading to the church, Bryon took the kids to K-mart to pick up some dress socks that we forgot. Matthew found a shirt that he wanted and he begged Bryon, "Daddy, can we throw this shirt into the deal, too?"

When we got to the small town in Oklahoma, Matthew found out that we were only 15 minutes from Kansas. Matthew loves geography and wants so badly to add to the number of states that he has travelled to. This added to the bribery.

"Matthew, if you don't start behaving, we aren't taking you to Kansas!"

This worked like a charm! On the day of the wedding, Bryon took all three kids to Kansas. You would have thought he was taking them to Oz the way they were going on and on about it! They went to a gas station in Caney, Kansas. Matthew said that he had to get a souvenier of Kansas. The gas station attendant gave him a Christmas card that said "Seasons greetings from Caney, Kansas!" It is amazing that they didn't sell out of those months ago!! A person in the gas station asked the boys where they were from. Thomas told her that he used to live in Texas but now he lives in a hotel.


Matthew was very clingy to Michael during the weekend. He didn't want to leave his side. Matthew and Michael have been best buddies since Matthew was a newborn. Any time Matthew accomplishes anything, he first wants to call Uncle Michael.

During the wedding, Matthew was perfect. He stood during the entire ceremony. He even helped us fluff Jilinda's vail after she walked up to the alter! During the recessional, Bryon's hands were full of sleeping Thomas, so Matthew stuck out his arm to escort the bridesmaid who Bryon was supposed to escort!

At the reception, the Matthew I know and love took center stage. I had asked him to be calm and good for far too long and now it was time to party. He loved dancing and as I mentioned yesterday, he enjoyed pretending like he was a figure skater. He kept crossing his arms over his chest and spinning. He got himself good and dizzy and threw up while Michael and Jilinda were cutting the cake. Fortunately, it wasn't a whole lot, and it was cleaned up within moments.

Matthew had a fabulous time and I couldn't have asked any more from him.

Thomas

And the stinker award goes to.....Thomas! The night before we left, he had 104 degree fever and I am fairly convinced that he had a virus on top of that. Being on antibiotics, feeling yucky, a long drive, out of routine, sleeping less than normal, playing 18 holes of golf with the guys, and all the hubbub took its toll the worst on my little guy. He was clingy to me, not his normal sweet self, not cooperative with cameras, and a little stubborn.

He fell asleep leaning over a chair at the rehearsal dinner. He slept any chance we would give him. I felt guilty that he wasn't home in bed, but what could we do?

One thing I will always remember about the wedding involved Thomas. We realized the night before the wedding that Thomas would not be able to stand during the wedding. He was far too out of sorts for that. After the kids came down the aisle, a member of the church grabbed ME. Thomas did not want to go with her. Bryon escorted him to her and took his place at the alter. Thomas followed him back! I discreetly pulled him over to where Bryon and I were standing. Thomas kept leaning on me and we finally told him to sit down next to us. We were in the back so I don't believe he could be seen. He was still holding Bryon's hand while he was sitting and during a prayer, I hear him snoring! He was sitting down, holding Bryon's hand fast asleep. I started giggling and I got worried that I would have the giggles during my song. Bryon picked him up and he stayed laying on Bryon's shoulder during the rest of the ceremony. Bryon had a long drool stain down the back of his tux!

He did perk up for the reception. He was very much at home next to all the food. The only time I had to get on to him during the reception was when he took all of his clothes off but his pants! He is so hot natured and it often takes everything in me to make him keep his clothes on!

He had a great time getting to know his second cousins. My cousin Matt has two kids, a boy, Matthew who is Thomas's age, and a girl, Emma, who is ME's age. Thomas fell in love with Emma and kept saying, "I love you, Emma!" We are all going to the Cape at the same time this summer so I am looking forward to their budding friendships!



Mary Elizabeth

What can I say? She had one mission: to walk down the aisle without crying. She accomplished her mission! She only stopped one time at the end of the aisle to pick up a few rose petals but she walked without crying out for Daddy or her Bibi.

ME also enjoyed getting to know her cousin, Emma. The two of them spent lots of time hugging and kissing at the reception.


ME loved all the attention she got from our extended family. The charm was turned on and she flirted with anyone who would let her.

She slept all but one hour of the 7 hour drive back!

I am exactly where I want to be!

I have been looking forward to this moment for weeks. We are all home safely. All the kids are in their beds. We had a fabulous time. My pictures have been downloaded!

This weekend, I felt every emotion that I could feel.

I laughed at my kids crazy antics.
I cried listening to my brother's heart felt words to my Dad.
I was sleep deprived.
I was humbled by all of the friends and family who came from great distances and went to great expense to be there for my brother and Jilinda.
I was relieved when Bryon was able to come.
I was so proud of my brother.
I was proud of my kids.
I was disappointed that Thomas didn't feel great.
I got the giggles when Thomas fell asleep during the ceremony and started snoring! (More on that later).
I was annoyed with Matthew for acting like a figure skater, spinning around and around, and throwing up at the reception. (More on that later!)
I was nervous singing in the wedding.
I was relieved that I didn't forget the words.
I enjoyed my extended family.
I was so happy to welcome Jilinda into our family as a new sister.
I danced my heart out at the reception.
My heart ached with happiness for my brother and nostalgia that somehow it won't ever be the same.

I have many great stories that I can't wait to tell. I need a hot bath and a good book first. I'll write more tomorrow! I have posted a few pictures. A few more might be trickling in later.

We made it!

We are here in Oklahoma! We headed up yesterday morning and were here by 4:00. The kids were great and Matthew even had time to read his first chapter book! Thomas was excited when we drove over the Red River. Red is still his FAVORITE color!

Kristen, I thought about you when we entered OK. The last time I was here was when we came with your parents when I was a jr. and you were a soph. in high school. That was so much fun!

The only drawback yesterday was that ME refused to sleep. She didn't sleep a wink on the drive and she didn't fall asleep until 10:30 last night. Ughhh! I remembered last night why I hate hotels with little ones. Mom and Lauren helped a ton and the boys ended up sleeping with Lauren and Josh.

The best news of all is that BRYON IS HERE! He surprised me and showed up at 1:30 in the morning. Everyones prayers were heard and I am pretty sure that Mrs. Judge had a "word" with Judge! Bryon said he had a complete change of heart yesterday and called him at 7 p.m. He told Bryon to hit the road!

The kids feel great. Matthew started complaining that the space that used to occupy his tonsils was hurting. Before he completed that sentence, I shoved an antibiotic in his mouth! I am so glad that we had one perscription extra.

Will blog more soon!

National Lampoons Wedding

Well, Thomas is feeling much better today! I feel so grateful that he got sick last night instead of today. What a relief! Gotta love antibiotics.

I am feeling much better today. Bryon has never let me down before and I know he will do everything in his power to be in OK as quickly as possible.

Matthew has his class picture first thing this morning. We are picking him up in a few minutes.

We are packing a Yukon with my parents, grandmother, three kids, me, and almost everything we own. Look out, Oklahoma, here comes the Griswolds!

So weary

Today has been difficult.

I was feeling great all day because I finally had most of the packing done, all the errands run, hair highlighted, etc. My mother watched the two younger kids while I was at my hair appointment. Everything was fine. I got the kids in the car and headed home. On route, I looked in the rearview mirror and noticed that Thomas looked a little funny. When I got home, I realized he was burning up. Before I even took him out of his carseat, I called the doctor and got him in immediately.

Thomas had 104 degree fever...

This is the child who has never had to get a prescription filled at our pharmacy...

This is the child who has gone through the winter sick season completely unscathed other than throwing up once...

Now, he is the child who got strep throat 15 hours before heading to OK.

Fortunately, we caught it early. Fortunately, the doctor gave me enough prescriptions to hold on to in case anyone else gets sick.


Please say a prayer that we all make it up to OK safely and in time for the wedding and that no one else gets sick. Thank you.

Today

Well, Matthew's smile is fixed! I took him out of school yesterday and got his tooth bonded and that stubborn baby tooth pulled. It was overall a painless experience and Matthew was only in the dentist chair for 5 minutes. Afterwards I took him to get a haircut then out to lunch before heading back to school. We had such a great time together! I adore spending one on one time with each child and yesterday it struck me how big Matthew is getting. We had a great conversation and it made me so proud of the little man he is becoming.

I have been running errands and packing all morning. Thomas and even little ME got a haircut. I am going this afternoon for a cut and highlight. After that, just a little more packing and we will be ready to go! Every day I get a little more excited and I can't wait to see all of my family and celebrate the wedding of my brother!

The beginning of the end of diapers?

Yet another huge difference with my boys and my girl. Several times since last week, ME has told me she needed to go "poo poo" in enough time to make it to the potty! Yes, she is only 18 months old, and my expectations are zero, but she has woken up dry after a few naps and goes to the bathroom everytime I put her on the potty. Although I am not expecting her to be potty trained until maybe this summer (fingers crossed?!) this has already started to cut into our diaper budget which has been a significant part of our grocery bill for over 6 years. Yeah!

weekend highlights

Friday afternoon, my best friend from the newlywed days came to town while her husband was presenting a paper. We got to spend a very fast hour catching up at Barnes and Noble.

I met Ashlie the day after I came home from my honeymoon. She and her husband had just moved to town so her husband could attend Baylor. We both got into the masters program at Baylor at the same time and we had an instant connection. We were in a program full of career oriented women while Ashlie and I dreamed of becoming "Mommies"! She and her husband left after two years and I missed her terribly. We still catch up from time to time but with 6 kids between us, it has gotten a little more difficult! She has family in town and I get to see her once every few years.

After our meeting, I raced home to cook a big dinner for my in laws, sister-in-law and her family. They all decided to come to town to watch the boys basketball game. The boys spent the night with my in laws at the hotel which they always look forward to!

The boys had a great last game. (It is still iffy on whether they will play in the "official" last game on Thursday night due to my brother's wedding.) Their winning streak continued and they were excited that all of their grandparents got to watch them. During the awards ceremony, Thomas stood frozen in front of the trophies. He kept saying that he couldn't believe he was finally going to get one of his own!

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at all of the things I need to get accomplished this week. Packing for a weekend where we have to look nice at every event will be a challenge. Lots of prayers will go up that we don't forget anything important. Last minute things like getting the car cleaned, getting Matthew's teeth fixed, getting hair cuts for the boys and me, and making table decorations for the rehearsal dinner will only add to the madness of the week. I pray that it is as peaceful as possible.

The last few days

After 4 days of sitting on my couch in the kitchen, my floors are finally in! When the men were pulling up the carpet, Thomas saw that the carpet pad was red and he was SO excited that we were going to have a red floor! He was very disappointed when then pulled up the padding!

Today, I had an appointment near where my husband practices law. The kids were at school and MDO, so I was able to surprise him and show up during one of his cases. It is so funny to see him so agressive and business like when I am used to my sweet Bryon laughing and rolling around with the kids!

During lunch, we decided to go to a great B-B-Q restaurant. We had such a great time and it occurred to me later that it has been a LONG time since Bryon and I were alone during the day before the exhaustion of the day has taken its toll! We agreed that we should do that more often!

The Black Ninjas are now 7-0! It was an exciting game. It will be all over for the season next week. This is the first time that I haven't been ready for a break. I have really enjoyed hanging out with the boys' parents!

My in-laws are coming tomorrow to watch the boy's game on Saturday. Bryon and I are spending the evening cleaning up all of the dust that was stirred up from the week.

Here is a pic of Matthew's mouth. Not only are we getting his front tooth fixed, we are also pulling his top baby tooth that won't budge even as his permanent tooth is growing over it! Sometimes, I miss that sweet baby teeth smile!

Grandma's spaghetti

Matthew had his visit with the dentist Monday afternoon. His tooth will be fixed next Tuesday so he will be cute for pictures at my brother's wedding next weekend!

We had a pizza party on our carpet Monday night before all of the carpet was ripped up. We let the kids eat on the floor and drink open drinks in there. They thought that was the craziest thing and loved that we were letting them break the rules!

Half of the flooring is in and they should finish today. I am ready for all my furniture to be out of my kitchen. I am having to stradle our piano to get to the microwave.

Grandma's sphaghetti

My grandmother was born in Corinth, MS and later moved to Memphis. Her father was a C of C elder and big supporter of Harding Bible College there. My grandfather was the youngest of 6 who grew up in rural Alabama. The first one a girl, the last FIVE were boys! His father died when my Dagano was 3 which left his mother, barely 5 feet tall, to take care of the six kids. (Must remember that story when I am feeling sorry for myself).

Dagano was in the Navy when he was a teenager. He was at the Bikini Islands when the atom bomb was being tested. When they would fire the test runs and radiation would spew out, the sailors were told to cover their eyes with their hands for protection. This may explain why my grandfather and many other men there died of cancer.

After the war, my grandparents met while travelling by train. They were married shortly afterward. They had two boys then were sent to Bermuda by the Navy. My aunt was born there and my Dad attended kindergarten there. While in Bermuda, my grandmother befriended an Italian woman who was her neighbor. The Italian woman gave Grandma her recipe for spaghetti and the rest is history!

I blogged about this last year, but when I think of my Grandmother, I think of her spaghetti. Everytime we went to visit her in B'ham, we always ate her spaghetti, corn bread, and slaw (she had to make it a little Southern!)

She has since moved to Waco and will make it every few years for us, but it is definitely on of my favorite recipes! It reminds me of being a newlywed. I tried to make it during the first few months of our marriage. I was such a novice in the kitchen that it took me several hours to make! Now I can whip it out in less than half an hour.

I hope you enjoy the recipe! You have to follow the ingredients exactly for the taste to be like Grandmas. I try to doctor it up sometimes and it doesn't taste right. Also, I would recommend serving it with corn bread and slaw! Also, she fixed warm banana pudding for dessert.

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion chopped
1/2 large bell pepper, chopped
2 large cans tomato sauce (I like crushed Progresso tomatoes)
1 large can tomatoes (I leave this out sometimes and it doesn't mess up the taste)
1/4. t oregano
1/4 t. marjoram
1/4 t. tumeric
6 whole cloves
3 cloves of garlic quartered
1 T. worchestershire sauce
5 or 6 shakes tabasco (I like more!)
1/2 C ketchup
2 T. leaves of celery chopped

Brown onion and bell pepper in meat.
Add other ingredients and simmer slowly about 2 hours.
Cook spaghetti til tender. Remove cloves before serving.

I usually double the recipe and freeze half of the sauce for another time.

Update

Matthew has a consult at 2 this afternoon with his dentist. I have gained a little perspective since last night and realize that it isn't the end of the world, it could have been a lot worse, and Matthew will be an official member of the boy club with a veneer on his front tooth! My brother lost half of a tooth in a sports accident and my cousin had a gun recoil and knock out a tooth. Stuff happens.

I just spent two hours at the doctor with ME for a follow up. She had to have another catheter and blood draw. She knew it was coming this time and was VERY upset. She still has blood in her urine so I am waiting on a call from the doc to figure out what to do next.

On top of all of this, we are getting wood floors in our house! We had to move all of our furniture except in the bedrooms and have mostly a concrete floor. I am excited to see how it will all turn out and to get rid of the carpet that has lasted us from Baby Matthew to Baby ME. I would hate for the CSI team to come to our house and test what all is in the carpet from spit up, throw up, juice, pee, etc!

Fortunately Bryon is home now and will be going into work very late. I love when the courts are closed!

Another week, another drama.

We just can't seem to catch a break. Last week, we spent time in the hospital with ME. This week (only one day into it) and Matthew has lost half of his permanent front tooth.

I went to a book club meeting tonight and Bryon took the kids to church. Half way through, the children's minister came to get Bryon and explain what happened. Apparently, he and his good buddy were playing trying to catch balls of Playdoh when Matthew twisted and went down teeth first into the hard floor. I am trying not to visualize this too much because I have teeth issues. Knocked out teeth or even loose teeth make me nauseous.

Seriously, how many kindergarteners do you know who have mostly permanent teeth? Why didn't this happen to a baby tooth? Why did this happen to the top front tooth? He wanted to go to book club with me tonight instead of church. I wish I had just stayed home with him.

I didn't even enjoy Grey's Anatomy tonight because I was so sick about his tooth. I guess I will call the dentist tomorrow and see about getting it crowned. I can't write anymore, because I am so upset about it.

Writing to Read Journals

Matthew came home with his Writing to Read journals yesterday. There are only a few of them and of course, they are mostly about sports. He had to make up a story and color a picture at the bottom of the page to illustrate it. I thought they were so cute that I had to share:






*Once a pone a time, Alabama vs. Texas tech in the Rose bole and alabama won 13-10.
(They were in the Cotton Bowl, but it's Matthew's story, right?)

*Once a pon a time baylor vs. army and it was 20-10 Baylor!!!!! And baylors shorts wer green and gold. army was so bad.
(I guess the whole "men remembering scores and stats" thing starts early. He wrote this 5 months after the event!)

*Once a pon a time Baylor vs. samford and Baylor won 48-43. Baylor is now 2&0 ya!!!!!! I love B,a,y,l,o,r.

*Once a pone a time. Luke skiwocr was fighting Darth Vadore with me and I am with Darth Vadore. thy are with thar Litesavors on the Deth star.

I love reading the little stories he comes up with even if most of them are sports stats!

The gang's all here!

Bryon was planning on picking Thomas up tomorrow morning at his aunt's farm, but when we heard that it was going to be freezing rain in the morning, we decided that I should go this afternoon to pick him up. I was only too happy to do it!

The entire time he was gone, he didn't want to talk to me on the phone, but I could tell that he really missed me. When we got in the car, he told me that he really missed "Baby Girl" and me so much while wiping away little tears! I know he had a great time with my inlaws and his cousin who lives two doors down, but there is no place like home! We made it home 5 minutes before Matthew got home from school. Pheeeew!

One cute story that my mother-in-law told me: Thomas and Ashley (age 2 1/2, cousin) were talking in the back seat of the car. Ashley was holding her baby doll and said, "I'm a mommy." Thomas, very seriously said, "Ashley, mommys don't poo poo in their pull ups!"

We are all home again for the first time since Tuesday, and we are celebrating Valentine's Day tonight with Grandma's spaghetti and strawberry crepes!

Have a great weekend!

A blissful day

Today has been everything I hoped it would be. I still got up early, but Bryon got Matthew ready for school and out the door, and Mary Beth and I have been chillin' like villians all day.

We played with toys, cleaned the house, and made a big vat of Grandma's spaghetti. I even kicked back while ME was napping and watched Little House on the Prairie reruns. (2 days in a row! I think I could get addicted!)

Changing gears...

What do these people have in common?:

Michelle Kwan
Bode Miller
Darren Ralves (men's downhill)
Apollo Ohno
Jeremy Bloom (moguls)
Johnny Weir
Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin (doubles luge)
Lindsey Kildow

Most of them heavily touted to win gold. All of them expected to medal and all of them have choked. Some due to injury, some due to crashes, some just not living up to the hype. What a let down Olympics this year and these mentioned are just the few that I remembered off the top of my head and it is only 5 days into competetion!

What do these have in common?:

Olympics
Hospital stays

I have spent the last three Olympics in the hospital! This last week, giving birth to ME in '04, and Thomas's hospitalization as an infant in '02. I guess I have grown accustomed to listening to the games through a speaker in my bed!

Home again

Sick baby.




Well, we finally made it home at 8 p.m. It was a long day and although ME didn't sleep until an hour before discharge, she was happy and showing signs of her old sweet self. We were given an antibiotic that she has to take for the next 12 days and then all is well. She is going to be a flower girl in Michael's wedding in two weeks so at least she will be full of antiobiotics. No chance of sickness at the wedding.







Thomas will be staying with my in laws until Friday so tomorrow ME and I will have a chance to sleep and enjoy being in a room larger than my closet.

Thank goodness for Bibi. It helped make life bearable during the ordeal. She asked for it constantly.

I was impressed at how little effort it took to keep the bandage on that held her IV in place. They would have had to knock Matthew out to keep it on! I also loved how content she was to sit and cuddle most of the day while watching Little House On The Prairie reruns with her Mama!

By the end of the stay, ME was saying "Ont Foo! Ont Juuuuu!" (want food/want juice) over and over which was another welcome sign.


Time to finally rest!


Thank you again for thinking of us!

Update

I am humbled by all of your sweet comments to our family. My mother is taking her lunch break to give me a little break. I don't have much time but here it goes:

*Yesterday morning ME's doctor called to say that it was indeed a kidney infection. If she didn't run a fever and stayed hydrated, she would have been able to stay home. I had to run up at 2 p.m. to get her antibiotic shot.

*When I went by at 2, the nurse took one look at ME and said that the dr. needed to see her. She was white as a ghost and not having wet diapers.

*After we got to the hospital, ME had to go in to get an IV. They took her down the hall to do the procedure. I heard every bit of the 25 minutes it took to get the IV in. I asked the nurse if everything went ok and she said it did although she was sweating! I hope I never have to hear that again.

*Bryon took Thomas down to meet his parents half way to Houston so he could hang out with my inlaws and I wouldn't have to worry about finding someone to watch him. What a blessing!

*ME was as good as gold last night, but I still ended up only sleeping about 2 hours. She wouldn't sleep in the crib, so she slept with me.

*Dr. reports that her white counts are going down, but she is anemic. That would explain her paleness.

*We have been so baffled by her health the last few weeks. She would have a fever at night, then be fine for a few days, then have a fever again, then nothing for a week, etc. Dr. thinks that she was fighting off a bladder infection but it finally got the better of her last weekend. I am ready to have my happy little girl back!

*We should be leaving tonight or tomorrow. Thank you again for your prayers and well wishes. I will keep you updated.

Well, we will be spending Valentine's in the hospital. ME is very sick with a kidney infection. Please keep her in your prayers!

Today

Lots going on right now and I am tired tonight, so I'll make it as short as I can:

*After 3 days of high fever with ME, I took her to the dr. today. After THREE AND A HALF HOURS at the doctor's office, it was determined that Baby Girl has either a bladder or kidney infection. Poor thing had to endure a catheter, blood draw, and 2 antibiotic shots. The boys were with me for 2 1/2 hours of the ordeal. My mother (God bless the woman) came at that point to take them home. Even though everyone was as good as could be expected, all three kids cramped in a boring room for that long could equal in fun to, say, taking all three to the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving.

*We had a nice weekend other than sick kids. My brother and his fiance came home to celebrate Michael's 28th birthday. Thomas started calling him "Michael" rather than "Uncle Michael". Michael had to correct him several times on Saturday. Apparently at church on Sunday, one of the older women came over to talk to Michael. She said, "Hello, Michael!" Thomas told her, "He doesn't like to be called Michael. He likes to be called 'Uncle Michael'!" Mom pointed out that this was Michael's last visit home as a single man. Strange but exciting!

*We spent the rest of the day getting ready for Valentines Day. Matthew and I made a box for his cards and the boys addressed their Valentine's. Valentine's Day (along with New Year's Eve) has turned into a family holiday in the Barnhill house. There is just no need to pay a babysitter who is probably already occupied anyway to babysit while we wait in line an hour with half of Waco to eat at a restaurant! I am hoping to make a nice meal for my little family if things go smoothly. If tomorrow is anything like today, however, we will be ordering pizza!

*After reading three fluff, mindless, entertaining books in a row, I felt a book with a little more substance was in order. The book I am reading is about a typical day in a Siberian labor camp. Not exactly Mary Higgins Clark, but interesing nontheless!

*Of course, I have been glued to the Olympics. I had a lot to say about this, but I have run out of steam. Perhaps tomorrow!

My sick babies and Michelle Kwan

Well, this has been a frustrating winter with regards to my kids health. I don't know if it is because of Matthew starting school, but the kids have been more sick this year than every other year of their lives combined. Really it hasn't effected the boys as much as ME. She has missed more MDO days than the boys ever did.

I am home this morning with Matthew and ME while Bryon went to church with Thomas. Both of the kids have a fever. It is so strange, but other than the stomach virus several weeks ago, the only thing they have had is a fever. ME has been struggling with this for several weeks. She feels fine all day, gets a fever at night, is fine the next day. Normally, this isn't too scary and I attribute most of it to her 8 teeth coming in at once. We were a little scared last night, however, when I took her temperature and it was 105 degrees! She is still sleeping, bless her little heart. Bryon and I were up with the two quite a bit last night, so I am happy to be home today.

In Olympic news, I was so sad to hear that Michelle Kwan dropped out of the competition. I have been a big fan of hers since the '98 Olympics. Even though American Tara Lipinski won that competition, I was disappointed that it wasn't Kwan. Tara seemed like a gymnast, Michelle was much more graceful. I didn't feel disappointed as much at Salt Lake City when Sara Hughes won. Her joy was so infectious that it was hard not to be happy for her!


Kwan seemed so devastated this morning at her news conference. To be the most decorated womens figure skater of all time but to never achieve her dream of gold makes me sad for her. She handled it with grace and dignity and allowed for enough time for Emily Hughes to have enough advanced notice to be a true contender. NBC keeps running the footage of Michelle falling over and over in practice yesterday. Really, do we need to see that? Give her a little dignity!


I am looking forward to today's competition. Matthew has become obsessed with Shaun "The Flying Tomato" White, the favorite to win in the half pipe. Downhill skiing is today as well. I am really hoping that an American wins, I just hope it isn't Bode Miller. That kids just rubs me the wrong way.

I am hopeful that Matthew and ME will begin to feel better today!

this week

Nothing extremely interesting in the Barnhill house this week. I decided on a whim to repaint my guest bathroom. I have lived in this house for over 7 years and am just now getting to it! With repainting comes redecorating as well. I just got my new light fixture up today.

Matthew got his first individual color change yesterday. (His table has gotten one before for fighting over colors!) He has gotten to be best friends with one of his classmates (whose b-day party he just attended) and they are having a difficult time controlling the shear exuberance that a new friendship brings! He came home and said, "Even though I was talking in line and got a color change, you are still my one and only, ever-loving mother!" I assured him that he wouldn't think I was so "ever-loving" if this were to happen again!

The Today Show kicked off its two week stint at the Olympics today! I am an Olympics fanatic. I recently wrote how stories about animals will get me to cry every time. I am the same way with the Olympics. I just can't keep the tears in when an American wins the gold medal!

The last summer Olympics started the week that ME was born. I was so tired during the evening events that I didn't get to enjoy them as much as I usually do. The last winter Olympics I spent in the hospital with my 2 month old Thomas who developed a high fever and had to spend 3 days in the hospital running a lot of tests. Yes, our family will be glued to the TV for the next two weeks. I can't wait!

This week's recipes

I was so pleased by how many people enjoyed last week's recipe! I hope that everyone who tried the casserole enjoyed it.

I have been wracking my brain trying to decide which recipe I should follow up with. What I chose was New Years Black Eyed Peas. I chose this one because it is another family favorite that I make often, it has few ingredients, EXTREMELY EASY, and it is another double up and freeze dish. I also included a dessert.

I first ate this dish last New Year's Day. I was at one of my dearest friend's house and she made this for our family. We all went gaga over it and I have made it a ton ever since! It is what I call a "man pleasin'" recipe!

New Years Black Eyed Peas
6 strips of bacon-saute until crisp
1 onion chopped, sauteed in bacon grease
4 cans of black eyed peas
1/2 jar chunky salsa
1 package of smoked sausage sliced into desired thickness

Throw it all in a pot and heat through. That's ALL!

Serve with cornbread. I usually put a big hunk of cornbread in the bottom of a bowl and serve the black eyed peas over it. Yum! Yum!

Mary Beth cookies
The week before Mary Beth was due, Bryon had a meeting in San Antonio. This was an important meeting that he hated to miss, so he drove the boys down to my in laws for the week so I could rest the last week of my pregnancy.

I was really sad when they all left. I think it had a lot to do with hormones, but it made me sad thinking that the next time I saw the boys, they wouldn't be my only children.

I started pouring through my cookbooks trying to cook and freeze as much as I could in anticipation of ME's birth. I was thumbing through my favorite cookbook author's book when I found "Miss Mary Beth Cookies"! I figured it was a sign! I had to made them.

If I had my choice, I would always choose a chocolate chip cookies with nuts, oats, and coconut. Bryon like them plain. These are his FAVORITE cookies! So simple, but delicious.

1 C butter
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
3 C flour
1 t. salt
1 t. soda
2 C chocolate chips

Cream first three ingredients. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Mix together next 3 ingredients and pour into batter until just combined. Add chips.

Bake 350 for 8-10 minutes for tablespoon sided balls. (I usually make them bigger! ;)

Enjoy!

weekend highlights

Another weekend, come and gone! A few highlights:

*Lots of trips to Home Depot/Lowe's/Sherwin Williams/Kelly Moore. We are doing some painting and repairs on our current house.

*Lauren spent some time with us on Saturday while Josh was reffing a Dodge Ball Tournament at church. It was fun having her hang out with us.

*Boys' Night Out on Saturday night. Usually once on the weekend, the three boys go out together. Matthew and Thomas look forward to it all week. They will either go to the store, Barnes and Noble, or the movies. Saturday night, they went to see 8 Below, the new Disney movie about dogs that were stranded in freezing weather for several months. They said it was wonderful!

*I took Matthew to his best friend's birthday party on Sunday.

Matthew feels like it is the ultimate compliment to a child to root for their favorite team even though he doesn't like that team. Case in point: Matthew had a girl in his class who was hospitalized with pneumonia in December. The whole class wrote her get well cards. I saw the girl's mother over Christmas and she thanked Matthew for the "Texas Tech" card he made for her!

On the way to the party, he told me that he was going to tell Ethan "Gig 'em Aggies". He said, "I am going to whisper it, though, because I don't want anyone else hear me say it!"

*We went driving yesterday looking at houses. We are still working on the house plans to the house we are eventually going to build on our lot. The more I look, the more I change the plans, the more confused I get.

*We watched the Super Bowl over at my parents house last night. Mom made corn chowder which is one of my favorite things she makes. In the second quarter, Thomas and ME had "potty issues" which forced me to go home with them. Bryon and Matthew stayed for the game. Thomas was very disappointed that Seattle didn't win. He had a hard time keeping the tears in. My mother went to Seattle this Fall and brought back a Seattle sweatshirt and football for Thomas. Thomas adores the football and calls it "footbie". He carries it around like a stuffed animal.

*Watched Grey's Anatomy after the Super Bowl. I honestly don't know how I will wait another week for the conclusion!

The weekends come and go so quickly! I am looking forward to a great week.

Four Things

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. HEB grocery sacker/checker/photo lab worker.
2. Actress in commercial (I have been in three).
3. Local gift store employee.
4. Speech-language pathologist with a local hospital.

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Napoleon Dynamite
2. Office Space
3. Princess Bride
4. Gone With the Wind

Four books I could read over & over:
1. Roots
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. Redeeming Love
4. Gone With the Wind

Four places you have lived:
1. Tuscaloosa, AL
2. Champaign, IL
3. Abilene, TX
4. Waco, TX

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Oprah
4. Criminal Minds

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. England/Scotland
2. New England
3. American West
4. Bermuda

Four web sites I visit daily:
1. Drudge Report
2. My bank account
3. My blog
4. Other blogs

Four of my favorite foods:
1. chicken fajitas
2. steak
3. chocolate chip cookies
4. wedding cake

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Cape Cod
2. In bed
3. Some place that acually has a winter
4. At a nice restaurant

This week

I can't believe it is already Friday! Here are a few highlights from my week:

*Monday, I took Thomas and ME to the museum where we met some friends. We were watching a boat float by and ME said, "Bye bye, boat!" My baby's first 2-word utterance! The speech pathologist inside of my was very proud. Since then she has also said, "Hi, Mama." and "I want cookie."

*Tuesday was of course, the Globetrotters.

*Last night, I watched the Black Ninjas increase their record to 4-0. I love watching the boys play! Matthew has a very serious game face. I can't believe what an incredibly intense child he is. Thomas enjoyed defending and dancing around the court.

*Today has been a blessedly lazy day. The weather this morning was windy, cold, and rainy. ME stayed in bed until 10:30 so I enjoyed some quiet this morning.

We will be hanging around the house this weekend. A few weekend fix up jobs around the house and Matthew's best friend from school's birthday party. Should be fun!

Comfort Chicken Casserole

Well, I had such a great response to my Snip-It Salad post, that I thought about once a week, I would write a post about some of my very favorite recipes.

I could live in the kitchen! Cooking is theraputic to me and one of my most favorite ways to show my family how much I love them. I treasure my recipe book above almost all of the items in my house! I also love to hear stories that go along with recipes.

Now, about thatComfort Chicken Casserole....

Right after Bryon and I got married, we went to visit his parents. Bryon's mother doesn't cook often, but she made lunch after church on this particular Sunday. She was trying out a new recipe for Chicken Casserole. I took one bite of it and I swear, if there had been enough, I would have gone swimming in it!

I took the recipe home, and it was a staple in my newlywed kitchen. I made this and my grandmother's spaghetti (which I will write about soon) quite a bit! It was the first meal that I made for my parents, and I have made it many times for friends who have had babies.

Once a month, I double and freeze alot of meals so I can have them on hand during the weeks. This one is in the mix quite a bit, so without further ado...

3 lbs. chicken (I either stew or slow cook a whole chicken or bone-in chicken
breasts).
1 medium onion
4 celery stalks
1 lg can chow mein noodles
1 lg can evaporated milk
2 cans cream of chicken
2 cans cream of mushroom
2 1/2 cups Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing (I ALWAYS use more!)
1 stick of butter


*Cook the chicken and either shred or cube and set aside in a large bowl.
*Saute' onion and celery until onions are translucent. Now hold it there.... Part of the "comfort" in this casserole is the smell. Nothing smells homier than sauteeing onion and celery!
*Add to bowl. Also add chow mein noodles
*In small bowl, mix the next three ingredients and add to bowl. Mix well.
*Pour into 9X13.
*Mix stuffing and butter in a saute pan. When browned a bit, put on top of casserole. Again, I always use more stuffing. This is the best part!

Bake at 350 until bubbly.

Some variations:
Almonds and/or water chesnuts are a nice addition.
My friend likes to use turkey sometime instead of chicken.
This is easily doubled and frozen.

This is great served with green beans or a salad. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Globetrotters

Tonight, we had the treat of taking the kids to see the Harlem Globetrotters. Both the boys are really in to basketball right now and they were in awe of these incredible players! It was a fun time had by all.


One of my favorite moments tonight was an indication of the new pecking order in our family. Bryon took ME to get popcorn, and when he returned, ME held the bag of popcorn and took turns shoving fistfuls of popcorn into the boys' mouths! Queen Bee, ME!

Oddly, the program was touted as family entertainment although it was still going strong at 9 o'clock on a school night when we left. A little late for my kindergartener!

Of course, Matthew is firmly convinced now that he will be a Globetrotter one day and he was happy to show off all his new "moves" when we got home. Dream big, little guy!

Why did I do it?

It is now close to midnight. I am usually in LaLa Land at 10:30 so it is really late for me! I started reading Marley and Me yesterday and couldn't put it down.

I knew what was coming. I knew it.

No best selling, self-respecting, book about a dog ends before the dog's life does. Still, I continued. Not to spoil the ending, but Marley dies. Don't worry, he was 13 and it was his time, but nothing chokes me up more than animal stories. Now I can't sleep because I have been crying. Why couldn't I have waited to finish it until tomorrow?

Book news and dogs

I started and finished Friendship Cake on Saturday. It was a cross between Mitford series, Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and Steel Magnolias. Of course, since it is a modern book, it also has a token homosexual. It isn't shoved in the readers face like it is in almost all movies and TV shows these days, but still, it is really necessary?Overall a sweet book. I would recommend it.









I am now reading Marley and Me. It is about the adventures of a dog owner and his hyperactive lab. Much of the book reminds me of the first years with our black lab, Angus. Bryon and I got him when we had been married 4 months. He was the center of our universe. He was also huge and very energetic. We figured he needed a companion, so we got him a girlfriend. Maggie was a beautiful blonde who looked like she had eye liner on. We loved both of them, but they quickly destroyed our yard.


Two months after we moved to our current house, (and seven years ago tomorrow) Bryon and I attended a wedding. When we returned home, we had a message from a man who had our dog, Maggie. We were very confused until we called this man. Apparently, Maggie and Angus had escaped our house and were returning to our old house. They made it quite a ways up a very busy street, but then tragedy struck. Maggie darted out into traffic and Angus ran after her. Angus was hit and died instantly. Maggie was shaken up but was rescued by this nice man. He cried when he told us the story.

Losing Angus was extremely hard on me. He was my "first baby" and my heart sank every time I thought of how he died. Maggie became everything to me. I even took her picture with me when I went on vacation. The day we brought Matthew home from the hospital, I looked at Maggie and realized that she wasn't a baby. She really was a dog! It got harder and harder to take care of Maggie. She was horribly frightened of ambulance sirens and when a fire house was built near our house, she howled all night long. It was hard enough getting up a lot with Matthew, but Maggie as well? I was also completely engrossed in Matthew and didn't spend near enough time with her. I know that sounds awful, but we decided it was time to find a new home for her.

We eventually gave her to a man who owned a florist in town. He had tons of acres and Maggie fit right in. It was a relief knowing that she was happy and had lots of new playmates.

I don't know when we will ever own a dog again. I know the kids will want one, and I don't want to deprive them of the experience of owning a dog, but I am not pushing it! Who needs another body to clean up after and feed and climb all over me?

Saturday mornings

Yes, Saturday mornings are sacred family time in the Barnhill house as well as most homes in the country. While I can't imagine a bad one, this morning was particularly great. A thunderstorm rolled through this morning bringing much needed rain. We haven't had this much since August! Nothing like waking up to a thunderstorm. As Beth Moore would say, "Can I get an Amen?"

As I was waking up, I smelled the wonderful combination of coffee brewing and cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. Bryon went out with the guys last night and I think he was making it up to me!

Yes, Saturday morning. There are few other two word combinations that can bring a huge smile to my face. Here are a few others:

God's grace
hot coffee
fresh cookies
filet mignon
girlfriend lunches
romantic dates
back massages
baby breath
funny movies
engrossing books
Cape Cod
snow days
norther fronts
Christmas Eve
turkey dinner
pecan pie
comfortable jeans
clean house
roaring fires
uncontrollable laughter
Alabama football
sister talks
mom talks
sleeping in
manicure/pedicure
hot baths
Children's Place
kids sports
footy pajamas
Matthew dates
Thomas dates
Mary Beth
fancy restaurants
The Office
Grey's Anatomy
new clothes
Food Network
quiet time
long drives

Nothing beats them!

Snip it salad

I am a food kick kind of gal. If something tastes good to me, I eat it over and over again. My sophomore year in college, I ate Cream of Wheat every day! Lately, I have been eating snip it salad once, if not twice, a day. My girlfriends and I made it for a friend's small, sit down dinner, baby shower last year, and I didn't make it much until December. Now, I can't wait to eat it every day!

Snip it salad
(Named this because all you have to do is snip open packages to make it)

1 bag spring mix salad greens
craisens
glazed walnuts
feta cheese (of course, I omit this one!)
raspberry viniagrette

Such a beautiful and delicious salad. I think I need another bowl!

Is this week over yet?

Ohhhh, its only Wednesday. When will the weekend get here?

Everyone is over the throw up thing. It was fast and furious. Today Matthew went back to school, Bryon went back to work, and Thomas resumed his usual routine. Mary Beth still isn't quite herself.

Being still fairly new to the whole mothering a girl thing, I am constantly amazed at the differences in boys and girls.

Case in point:

The threshold before crying for:
Matthew-Some sort of injury involving blood.
Thomas- Getting sent to his room.
ME- Because it's Wednesday. Why not cry?

Poor little thing cried all day. Don't get me wrong, she normally has a very sunny, happy disposition. Not today. I pretty much held her all day. I don't know if she still feels yuck although I doubt it. Everyone got over it really fast. Maybe its her four teeth coming in. Maybe it's just Wednesday.

Hell hath no fury like....

A stomach virus running rampant through our entire family!

In the past 36 hours I have:

*Received a call at Matthew's school that his tummy hurt.

*Woken my sleeping baby up to pick Matthew up from school.

*Held Thomas's head while he threw up after I put said baby in car.

*Picked up Matthew who played and was happy all afternoon.

*Took Matthew to piano lessons because he was feeling much better.

*Gotten a call that Matthew threw up at lessons all over the piano at Baylor and the new clothes that I had just cut the tags on.

*Woken up at 3:30 in the morning to a screaming Thomas. Run in to their room in a panic that he had thrown up again. Turns out he can't find "Footby" his Seattle Seahawk football!

*Gotten the kids up to take them to MDO this morning as well as get ready for my doctor's appointment.

*Held ME while she threw up all over the kitchen.

*Put the kids in the car to take healthy and well Matthew and Thomas to school. School nurse said to wait one more day before bringing him to school as a stomach virus has been going around. On the way to drop off Thomas, ME throws up all over her outfit and carseat.

*Race home to change ME and get the final things ready for my trip to the doctor. Baby has really, really bad diaper (need I elaborate?) and change her again.

*Call Bryon in route to the doctor to please meet me there so he can watch the two kids I have. At doctor, ME has another explosion and leaks all over her third outfit and on my sweater.

*Endure a trip to the eye doctor smelling a tad like diahrrea!

*Said good bye and good luck to Bryon as he leaves with the two kids and heads to WalMart to buy new pants for ME and take the kids to work with him. God bless him!

*Went to appointment. Come home to find Bryon incapacitated with same stomach virus. Take care of Bryon and ME, the newest victims of virus.

*Prayed very hard that I don't get it!

My first blogiversary!

One year ago today I started blogging. I remember talking to SG right before ME was born and she was describing what it was. At the time, I couldn't imagine enjoying something like that. Over the next few months, I started reading several blogs and got sucked in!

My primary purpose for blogging was (and continues to be) to document the day to day life of my kids. I was forgetting funny stories about the kids and needed a way to be held accountable to write them down! Last month, I started looking over old entries and read things the kids said and did that I had forgotten. Oh, how I wished I had started sooner!

Another benefit has been getting to know many people in the blog community. I enjoy reading about your lives and children. I also enjoy keeping up with a few friends that way, although most of my friends hardly know how to operate a computer!

I never would have dreamed that I would still be here one year later. Thanks for reading and thanks for the hours of enjoyment I have received reading your blogs as well!

A showerful weekend

Well, we finally are settling down after a busy weekend with two wedding showers. Michael and Jilinda came home yesterday morning. There was a couple's shower last night hosted by my dad's colleagues at Baylor and a church shower today. I can't believe that my brother is getting married in 6 weeks! The showers this weekend have helped to make it real.

We enjoyed getting to meet Jilinda's parents and seeing old friends. I was so glad that Kristen and Kevin got to come. Seeing their kids grow up through her blog and pictures is fun, but I enjoy seeing them in real life!

I can't believe how tired I am after having a few social events this weekend. I guess I am just used to staying home all the time.

Here is their engagement announcement. Scroll down to Robinson-Sowers on the left hand side.

The first half of Friday

Well, Mary Beth hasn't had any fever since 3:00 this morning, She woke up crying and wouldn't settle down until I put her in bed with us after about 4:00.

I will admit, that it was sweet hearing her say, "Mama! Mama!" in her crib. A consolation for a night of interrupted sleep is knowing that I am the one that can make ME's world better.

Something I hate about myself is that generally, when I am woken up in the middle of the night, I can't go back to sleep. I have been up since 3:00!

Fortunately, I was able to catch up on my TiVo'd shows at 4 in the morning. Unfortunately, I am exhausted at 9:40 a.m! This will be a no make up, warm up wearing, pot of coffee drinking, low key day!

I am grateful that the fever seems to be over. Maybe the dreaded "VIRUS" only wanted a quick visit.

The last half of Thursday

I took ME to the doctor. She couldn't find anything bacterial so she thinks that she just has a virus. It sounds strange, but I would rather her have strep throat and have an antibiotic instead of "wait and see--she might feel better tomorrow or she might feel sick for 10 days." Yuck!

Well, the Black Ninjas continue their winning streak. They are 2-0 and the boys are on top of the world. Matthew asked me tonight if they qualified for the national championship yet! (This after watching Glory Road this weekend.)

Here is hoping that little ME isn't up all night!

Mother's Day In

Tuesdays and Thursdays, I drop the younger two off at church for Mother's Day Out. Many of my friends use this time to run errands. I like to run my errands on the weekends and a few during the week when I have the kids home with me so I can enjoy the time at home by myself. I also try at least one of the days to eat with friends-either coffee, breakfast, or lunch.

I usually clean the house, cook for the night, read, catch up on tivo'd shows. Spending the time in a quiet/clean house fills my Mommy bank up so I am ready for the withdrawls during the rest of the week! I have always been someone who needed alone time, and I think the lack of that is the hardest thing about having children at home.

After I dropped the kids off, I went to grab a coffee with a friend. While I was there, MDO called me to let me know ME had a fever! She was perfectly happy this morning and they said that she acted fine until about a 1/2 hour into it. She became lethargic and was running 101 degree fever. This is only her second fever of her life and she looked so pitiful when I went to pick her up.

We are having company come this weekend as my brother and his fiance are having two wedding showers this weekend. To err on the side of caution, I am taking Baby Girl to the doctor to make sure it is nothing serious. Actually, I just looked at the clock and I have got to go! Wish us luck!

Little ME Lou Who

Looking back on recent posts, I realized that I have written a great deal about the boys but not as much about ME. This might not be interesting to anyone but me, but I feel the need to write this down. Here is what my 17 month old is doing now:



*She talks constantly. Of course, most of it we don't understand but she seems to love the sound of her own voice! Almost every morning, she wakes up around 8 but I don't get her out of bed until she begins to cry almost 2 hours later because she is entertaining herself. Yes, I know how blessed I am!

*She mimics everything we say to her. Same prosody and length of utterance in baby talk. Some of the things she is saying: no, mama, dada, baba, mama, nana, deedah, yaya, josh, mamo (michael), ball, football, zoo, turtle, lion, otter, bow, shoes, nose, ear, elmo, juice, please ("eeeeeee!"), hello, bye bye, food, down.

At the moment, her favorite of these is "No". She will strut around with her lips puckered saying, "No, no, no, no, no, no!"

*Her MDO teachers call her "Little Miss Thang". She already has a bit of Scarlett O'Hara in her. VERY DRAMATIC! When she doesn't get what she wants, she melts to the floor. We have actually had to start spanking for that this week. If someone she loves hurts her feelings, she holds a grudge for up to 15 minutes. She will see the "offender" after she has stopped crying and start again.

*She is very outgoing. She is happy going to strangers and has never cried going to church or class.

*She sticks to Bryon like glue when hwe is home for fear that he will leave her and go to work. When he says, "I gotta go!" she starts crying and I have to pry her off of him much to his heart ache.

*One of the biggest delights in her life is her brothers. They baby and pamper her so I don't blame her! When I pick her up out of her crib, she starts leaning around the corner with her lips puckered waiting to see "Baba".

*She loves football and cars and she loves dolls. Classic ME the other day: walking around with ballet slippers on her feet and a football helmet on her head!

*She loves to eat. If she sees me going into the kitchen, she cries because she wants food or drink. She eats about as much as the boys do. A wonder that she is only in the 25% for weight!

*This girl can dance! I play lots of music around the house just to watch her in action. Even when I sing to her, she starts waving her hands in the air.

*This girl can climb! If there is any elevation in the room, she will find a way to climb it. I have found her standing on our table (at 10 months of age), climbing into the bathtub, chairs, fireplaces, stools at the drinking fountain. I can't keep my eyes off of her.

I can't believe 17 months have already gone by. It is so much fun seeing her get a kick out of life. What a blessing she is to our entire family.

This weekend

Friday night, Bryon and I took the boys to see Glory Road while my parents watched ME. I would highly recommend the movie especially if you liked Remember the Titans, Hoosiers, Friday Night Lights, etc.

The movie was about the 1966 NCAA championship game. Texas Western University defied all odds to win the game against basketball giant Kentucky. Texas Western played an all black starting line up for the first time in history. The movie portrayed what all the black players had to go through. From physical and verbal abuse to threats and propery damage.

When we left the theatre, Matthew was asking a lot of questions about why everyone was so mean to the basketball players. It shocked him to hear that they were hurt because of the color of their skin. This is a great testament to the innocence of children and how the world has changed in 40 years. Jerry Bruckheimer, the director of the movie, said that most of the reaction from children watching the movie has been the same as Matthew's.

Saturday was spent helping Lauren spruce up her house getting ready for Baby James. She is in major nesting mode and I had a blast helping her with the little touches to make her house more homey. I love doing stuff like that!

Yesterday was spent cooking and freezing meals. My weeks seem to go so much smoother when a lot of the meal preparation is done ahead of time. It is a pain to do it all at once, but I am always happy I did during the week!

Last night after the kids fell asleep, Bryon and I watched Grey's Anatomy. This is my favorite hour of television each week. I am so addicted to this show although most of the plot lines are ridiculous. The patients at the hospital suffer from things like finding out they are hermaphrodites, men finding out they are pregnant, and two patients getting impaled by a single pole following a train wreck. Apparently the residents of Seattle don't drink Starbucks coffee and eat wile Alaskan salmon either. They would rather eat the entire contents of a novel, doll heads, and shards of glass.

I guess the real reason I watch it is I have a celebrity crush on Dr. McDreamy. Bryon thinks this is hilarious and enjoys watching me enjoy watching the nerd from Can't Buy Me Love.

Matthew has the day off from school and Bryon is coming home early because the courts are closed. When I was younger, the "lesser holidays" always annoyed me. The banks are closed! The mail doesn't come! Now I enjoy having a little respite from life without having to buy a present for someone and organize a class party!

A fun evening and a huge relief!

Tonight was Matthew and Thomas's first basketball game.



Bryon signed up to be Matthew's coach in November on one condition...that Thomas could also play. I had strong objections to Thomas playing with kids who were 2 years older than him, but Bryon said he was tired of Thomas always being on the sidelines while Buddy got to play. He is as tall as some of the kids on the team and judging the athletic ability of many of the kids in the league, Bryon thought it would be fine.

My objection was that I never want Thomas to feel inferior to Matthew. Of course Matthew is more coordinated than Thomas right now--he has a two year head start! I just thought it would be better for Thomas to wait and play with kids his own age. Bryon persisted and won the battle. When I saw how passionately he felt about it, how could I say no?

Over the past few weeks, the Black Ninjas have been practicing. The first practice, Thomas could barely dribble the ball. Bryon had to help him score. You know what? He was so proud of himself!

"I am Thomanator the Dominator!", he would shout.

He loves to scream, "Daddy helped me score two times!"

It never occurs to him that he is any less of an athlete than anyone on the team. All the boys on the team love him and Matthew protects him. When Thomas talks about what a good job he is doing, Matthew rolls his eyes and quietly whispers to me, "You know he is the worstest player on the team, don't you?"

My fears subsided a bit, but I was concerned today. Both boys eagerly anticipated the game. My parents came as well as Matthew's teacher and her husband. If you ever want a little comic relief, try and find a basketball game played by 5 and 6 year olds. What a treat! So hilarious.

Matthew started the game and did great. He ended up scoring twice and had several assists. He looked so handsome to me running around with his hair messed up and playing so well. I can't believe how big he is getting!


During the second quarter, Thomas came in. He knew what to do and ran to the boy he was supposed to cover. He kept his arms up and stuck by him like glue! He did a wonderful job at defense and I was so proud of him! All my fears were relieved when I saw how much fun he was having and knowing that he was also proud of himself.

In the end, the Black Ninjas won 28-14. We celebrated at our local favorite hamburger place. It should be a fun season!

Today

Well, just dropped the younger two off at church and I am home stalling before I begin to clean!

Real life is back in full swing. Matthew was really teary eyed going back to school on Tuesday. It is funny, but I remember feeling the same way going back after a break. It is a little bit scary. Everything is fine again, and he is loving being in school again.

As I was driving the kids to MDO this morning, Thomas asked me to put a cd in. He found a cd in my cd holder that was red (yes, he is still obsessed with red) and he wanted to hear it. It was Chicago's greatest hits. I hadn't heard it in a while and so I happily put it in. First track-Your'e the Inspiration. I hadn't heard this song in years and thoroughly enjoyed it. I cranked it up and sang at the top of my lungs. I am sure the people around me thought I was crazy and would have laughed out loud if they knew how cheezy the song was that I was jamming to!


Now it is time to do laundry. ME has two blankets that she is attached to. They both are backed by minke (sp?), the soft, bumpy material that has become popular in baby bedding. One of them was really dirty and I had to put it in the dirty clothes yesterday. The other one disappeared yesterday. We looked all over the house last night and couldn't find it. Poor baby cried until 10:00 last night b/c she didn't have her "bibi". Having a baby who is so attached to an object is a new thing for me. ME has a hard time settling down without her bibi. She puts it in her mouth with her thumb and makes sort of a munching sound. So cute except when we can't find it!

Marcus Vick could learn a lot from a kindergartener!

Bryon and Matthew were on their way to Matthew's school this morning listening to Sports Talk Radio. The announcer was discussing Marcus Vick, the ex-Virginia Tech quarterback's, demise. A once bright and shining future for the brother of Michael Vick, a recent past of bad behavior has potentially ruined his career.

The radio host said, "You know, when you put your job first, your family suffers. When you put your family first, your job suffers." Matthew looked at Bryon and said, "If he had put God first, everything would have been much better!"

I'm back!

Well, I believe this is the longest I have gone without blogging! Life has been quite busy the last few days. Matthew is still not 100% but has made dramatic improvements since last I blogged. He is off pain medicine and sleeping through the night again. Yippee! He lost between 5-10 pounds during the ordeal which is a lot considering he started at only 55 lbs! This weekend, he got his appetite back and is eating around the clock.

This weekend, I saw Memoirs of a Geisha. A beautiful movie but the book was so much better. Entire story lines were omitted from the movie.

This morning I went with one of my best friends to the zoo for a last fun outing before school starts. My friend has the same family as me-same birth order and spacing just one year ahead of me. The only difference is that she got two for the price of one with her last one! Our boys have a lot of fun together and the girls are just now getting interested in each other. After the zoo, we went out to eat. I love the stares we get when we walk in with 7 kids under 7! It is a look of pity and "Don't these girls know about birth control?"!

Well, the holidays are officially over tomorrow. Normally, I am so ready for school and life to return to normal, but I am dreading it this time. I have loved having Matthew home and having no obligations during the week. With school starting, Mother's Day Out, sports, piano, and church get into full swing again. The kids are ready, I just need to get my tennis shoes on to get ready for the rat race to begin again!