I'm Done

I stayed home from church with Tyler tonight. He went to bed around 6:30 and I sat down in the quietness of my home to work on my writing class. What fun! I have been behind, so I got caught up and I actually just submitted my last assignment. Yea! This has been so fun for me. I have emailed our instructor and asked for my grades and her feedback, so hopefully I will know something in a few days!

The Pollen is Fallin'

And boy do we all feel it! Tyler does this allergy thing every year and he is now in the midst of a hacking cough. I stayed home from church with him this morning and was glad that I did because he coughed all morning and even felt a little feverish a couple of times. As the day has progressed I have begun to feel like my head may explode at any minute! I know it is just the weather and everybody around here is in the same boat! So, Craig is off to AWANA and Tyler and I will be hanging out at home again tonight. I have been giving him some medicine so hopefully he will feel better by morning.

We had a fun day yesterday. Kayla went to Kendall's birthday party yesterday morning at the horse stables. They had a great time. And it was nice for the adults to be able to visit while the girls went on the horse ride. Uncle Jim went on the horse ride with them. They got to ride for an hour! Other than the party we didn't do much yesterday. Craig and I watched "Dan in Real Life" last night. It was a good movie. It was actually a clean movie.

I got my resume done today and ready to mail. I have submitted my application to the school system and have to follow up by sending my resume. We will see what happens. Tyler has one more year of preschool, but I am assuming that it is probably going to take me awhile to get in also. We'll see.

Up to My Eyeballs!

I have been up to my eyeballs today in Graceful Designs stuff. I have done some orders and done several things up for me to give for gifts. We have two baby showers this weekend so I was doing stuff for that. We also have a birthday party tomorrow. So I just finished getting all of my gifts put together, cards made, and embroidery stuff put away.
This morning I helped out at Kayla's school with the book fair. They gave me $10 worth of free books for volunteering. I thought that was nice. I was able to get Kayla a book that she had wanted and also the last book on her teacher's wish list. I left the school and went on a non-productive quest for luggage. I don't know why I am stressing about my luggage so much, but I keep reminding myself that God knows exactly what I need. I actually came home to find that there was an identical set on ebay that I had looked and last week, but I felt the bidding had gone too high so I let it pass. Now I am realizing that I am not going to get out of this part of my trip cheap. We need hard sided luggage with wheels and you can find hard sided luggage easy enough, but not with wheels. I'm praying that I can get the bid on this new set on ebay - it is the perfect set, perfect size; just need the perfect price to go with it!
Anyway, while I was looking for luggage the school called and Tyler had had an "accident" in his pants. Lovely. This too shall pass:)
Hope everyone has a great weekend. I think my hubby got home about five hours ago, but I'm not sure we have spoke; he has been busy and so have I! We didn't even eat dinner together tonight and that never happens in our house - we always eat together. How sad is that?

Busy, Busy

Today has been a very busy and productive day. I love days like this. I have cleaned my house - yea! I got almost all of my laundry done. I mean, let's face it - is it really ever all the way done? I got dinner done with and then all of us left to go to the Bookfair at Kayla's school. That is always a fun time. Both kids got to pick out new books. We left there and went to Goodwill which I have rehashed in my previous entry and we will not go down that road again! We went to WalMart and I got some more flowers for the yard. Oh how I pray that I do not kill all of these flowers that I'm buying. My mother-in-law is probably cracking up at me right now and wondering why I am wasting my money. Last year she brought me her herb garden because she didn't use them much and I cook with alot of fresh herbs. Well, I killed her beautiful herb garden. I guess that whole "give them water" thing didn't sink in with me too well. She is coming during spring break though and I am determined to have beautiful flowers when she gets here!(Love you Ruth!) Anyway, after the whole WalMart trip we had to go pick up Gertrude. I am on embroidery duty for this next week until spring break. So, all in all it was a very productive day!

A Moment of Complete Stupidity

I made Craig promise not to tell this about me and here I am about to tell on myself. I did something so completely stupid tonight that I can't even believe it. We are having Farmer Night at AWANA this Sunday and the four of us went to our Goodwill store tonight to see if we could find anything farmerish. Well, we are a little confused between cowboy night and farmer night and the kids wanted cowboy hats and boots. So Kayla picks up this straw hat and I LET HER TRY IT ON. AHHH! As if that wasn't bad enough - THEN I TRIED IT ON!!! WHAT WAS I THINKING - MY HEAD HAS BEEN ITCHING ALL NIGHT! Needless to say - we did not buy the hat, but I guess we might as well have - we tried it on!!!

A New Ebay Queen is Crowned

Kayla just sold her first ebay item!!! I suggested that she try putting a "buy it now" price on her items and somebody just bought one of her sets of books for $24.99! How awesome is that!!!

The Ebay Queen's Daughter

Kayla is becoming a little money maker! She has decided that she is ready to sell some of her books and she has sat down this afternoon and decided what she wants to sell and exactly how much she will be happy getting out of them as well as what she wants to buy with the money that she hopes to earn. She is a great thinker and very decisive! She has two watchers already on some of her books! She is thrilled. We will let ya'll know in seven days how well she did! While I'm on my ebay topic, I have to explain my reasoning behind ebay. I know a lot of people just give their stuff away and I think that is great. However, on a mostly one income family I have tried to find "outside the box" ways to make money and save money. I have one friend that constantly is giving me clothes for Kayla that her daughter has outgrown and those things I pass on to others when Kayla is done with them. But the stuff that I buy goes on ebay. I have found that I can spend a little bit more money (sometimes) on better quality clothes and toys and turn around and sell them for almost as much as I paid for them. I also buy most of Kayla's church dresses off of ebay and then am usually able to sell them for close to what I bought them for. Anyway, there you go - that was Lisa's free opinion on ebaying!

Lisa, the Gardener

Okay, well, I am working out my spring fever by planting my first flowers. Normally I like to pick them out, but Craig plants them. Not this year - I'm turning over a new leaf (hahaha) and I planted them myself and even had to buy a cute little butterfly stake to go in the flower bed. Here are the pictures. Go easy on me, it's my first attempt all by myself!

PJ Day

Today was PJ day for me and Tyler. It was wonderful to just hang out today and not have anything pressing to do. I did do some straightening up and some laundry and just some general household stuff!

Craig got our taxes done today and the home renovations are about to begin! We have sat down tonight and tried to formulate a plan of attack! We have a wet bar in our living room that is used to store all of the kid's art stuff and my canning jars and that kind of thing. Well, since it has cupboards and a sink it is just generally a lot of wasted space, so we are going to demolish it and make a storage closet with a door that will open into the hallway between my living room and kitchen. So, I have emptied the bar of everything except my canning jars which will be getting packed up this week and then I get to start tearing wallpaper! Shannon, get ready - you owe me!!!:) For those of you who don't know, Shannon and I have stripped and/or hung just about all of the wallpaper in her house. Fun times! While in the midst of those two things, Craig is going to begin gutting the bar. We also get to go and buy our stove soon!!! Yea! I have a 1980's stove that is just beggin' to be buried! I absolutley love home improvement! However, I will come back and read this entry in a couple of months when I have dust everywhere and my kitchen is completely torn apart because after all of the above will hopefully come new countertops and new flooring and new shelving in my pantry! Yikes! We'll see how far we get. Last year all of the renovating was done on the outside via vinyl siding. That was not at all what I call fun home improvement, but it was definitely necessary. So, instead of potty training issues, we will move on to home improvement updates! I think this will be much more fun than potty training!

An Unforgettable Scene

On the way home from our hike, we saw two hot air balloons which is not unusual around here, but the second one was pretty close to landing so of course we had to chase it. The kids were going crazy. It was so funny to see people watching this thing. It was practically in our back yard and so as we were driving through the neighborhood people were out in their yards watching it - it was so funny! Anyway, it ended up landing in Kayla's school parking lot which was a ton of fun to watch. I have never seen a hot air balloon land, but is was pretty cool. Here are a few of the pictures that I took...

Lisa Goes Hiking

Just in case you don't already know, I am not the outdoorsy type! However, I really have been trying to change my ways, because there is so much you can do as a family OUTSIDE. So, a few weeks ago we started walking, then we bought the tent, and today we went hiking! It was actually very fun and extremely relaxing and beautiful. We hiked for an hour and the kids were so much fun. Tyler picked up at least a dozen rocks and sticks and Kayla wanted to go down every "non-path" that looked like it might lead to adventure. It was a path that Craig had been biking down and so he pointed out all of the points of interest and falls to us:) Then on our way back we were walking just down from the train tracks and a train came by. Tyler thought it was awesome. The engineer blew the whistle and rang the bell and waved. It was alot of fun! And just to prove that I was there, here are some pics!

Easter Eggs

The kids had a great time dyeing easter eggs tonight! Tyler really got into coloring on his eggs and Kayla really took her time to do them up pretty!

Creepy Crawlies!!! Eeewww!

Yuck! I always thought that it would be my son who would bring home slimy creepy crawlers, but it looks like Kayla has a bit of a tomboy in her as well. Hey, I just have one thing to say, at least it was NOT in my house (this time).

Much Needed Rest

I got to sleep in this morning!!! Wow, I have been so tired this week and just have not been able to get caught up on my rest. Yesterday was a crazy day and I tried to go to bed early last night and laid there for an hour without going to sleep and finally just got up. This morning Craig got up and got the kids breakfast and I got to sleep until almost 9:00!!! It was awesome!

Yesterday was a very busy day to say the least. I started by dropping Tyler at school and then went to the doctor to get my second Hep B shot for my mission trip. As it turns out the nurse had wrote down the wrong date for me to come back and I was about a week early, so I sat there for probably close to 45 minutes for no reason - that was frustrating. Left there for a Graceful Designs meeting that ended up being very productive, screamed over to get Tyler picked up. He ended up not taking a nap yesterday so, of course, that always makes for a long afternoon. When Craig got home we left and took Kayla to her favorite pizza place for doing so well on her report card. Left there and went to Lowes. I am in my spring mode, Craig is already laughing at me. I had to buy flowers and this cute little butterfly stake for the flower bed. I told ya'll I do this in the spring, but by the time it gets to be 90 degrees outside, I don't care what the yard looks like! I'm really going to try to do better this year - don't laugh - I really am! Anyway, after Lowes we went to get groceries. Do you know that WalMart is not the place that you want to be on Friday night? Oh well, it wasn't too bad. It was after 9:00 when we got home. We got the kids to bed and I wasn't far behind. Craig is doing the brakes on our van today, so he was out in the garage taking those apart so he could get them to the shop this morning. This afternoon is our annual Sunday School Easter egg hunt. That is always fun! Hopefully I will get some cute pictures this weekend to post on Monday. Happy Easter everyone!

OUCH!!!

Tyler had his four year old check up today. He was 42 inches tall and 43 pounds. Is that funny or what? I'm not sure how many shots they gave him. I thought she had said 4 but there were 6 recorded on his shot record. Ow! I always thought it was awful to see them get shots as little babies, but I think it is definitely worse when they are older. He cried and cried; broke my heart. But he did get to pick a very cool pirate prize out of the birthday buckets. So he is now running around with a pirate vest, a sword, AND a hook! He has been so funny all afternoon, he has not wanted to even bend his legs. They must have really hurt because he has a very high tolerance for pain and usually gets over things pretty quickly. On the potty training note, our pediatrician did not really have any advice that I haven't already tried, except to make him sit on the potty after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ok, I can try that; I don't think it will do any good, but I will try it for fun, because it is something that I have NOT tried. Oh, BTW, she could feel his, um, you know, backed up in his stomach. Um, gross. That is just something that I don't like to think about - you know that all of that is actually backed up inside you some where. He needs a colon cleanse or something. Okay, that is it - that was for my unnamed friends who like to talk about p**p!!!

Report Card

Today is a favorite day in our house - REPORT CARD DAY!!! We love report card day! Probably because Kayla is extremely smart (she gets that from her dad!)and she loves to see her grades. This past nine weeks was no exception!

Language Arts - 97%
Math - 96%
Social Studies - 99%
Science 97%
AR Points - 49

Yea Kayla! Way to go!

BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ!!!

Well, Craig and I have been talking about buying a set of clippers for Tyler's hair since last summer and just haven't done it. We usually keep his hair buzzed in the summer time because he gets so hot. So a few weeks ago we were at CVS and Craig found these clippers that were dirt cheap. Last night was the night... Craig buzzed him. He did a good job!




AAHHH!!! He has back hair!!!

Tyler's Tall Tales

Tyler and I had a very interesting conversation in the car line at school this afternoon and I had to share. It went like this,

"Mama, did you know that King Herod was bad and when I was a little boy he threw me in the lions den?"

"Really Tyler, he threw YOU in the lion's den?"(Mom)

"Yep, last month - when it was March, March the 15th. I was born there."

"Really?"(Mom)

"Yep, and then the next day I went to the ocean and there was a really, really big fish and it went down into the water and then it ate me. And then the next day I got my John Deere shovel and I went down to the beach and I dug in the sand and I found a crab."

"Ooooooooow, a crab, yuck."(Mom)

"Yea, but it was a nice crab. We held hands and played games. And then the next day I wanted to go to the zoo to see the lions and I wanted to stay there with them but there was too many tigers."

It went on and on. He has quite an imagination!

I Have To...

I have to blog or I'm going to explode!!! Tyler has just pooped his pants and Kayla has just lied to me. Do you guys reach that point as a parent where you just have to go away for a little while? Well, I just reached that point - I am making Kayla stay in her room until I can talk to her calmly and Tyler is sitting on the pot(sorry, I know you wanted to know that, but, what can I say, that's the facts)! I might leave him there for the rest of the night!

Okay, there has been a lot that has gone on today and yesterday, so more posts are coming...

The Interesting Bike Ride

Okay, I have to tell you all about our walk and subsequent bike ride tonight. So we went walking tonight and then stopped at the house to get Tyler's bike. He was a little skittish tonight after his crash and burn last night. So we get not even half way around the block and he says, "Daddy, stop my bike, I want to get off." So the bike stops, he gets off and says, "I just want to sit down here for a minute and ask you a few questions!". Absolutely cracked me up. He plops down on the curb, tells Craig that he loves him a couple of times and begins a knock, knock joke! So, we finally get him back on his bike for about a minute and a half until he jumps off again and proceeds to RUN the rest of the way home. He was hysterical! So Craig and I ended up walking his bike home and all I could think about was Shannon and her annoyance with empty strollers - do bikes count too Shannon?

We got our grade back on the potato project and I, um, I mean Kayla got a 100% on the display and a 95% on her presentation. Yea Kayla! Tomorrow is report card day!

Tyler's First Crash and Burn

Well, we went for our walk last night and stopped to get Tyler's bike before our last trek around the block. We made it about halfway around when he got going to fast and crashed! All he got was a skinned up elbow, but he cried like he broke his leg! He got over it fast though and was back on his bike in no time and finished the block!

Pictures from the Weekend

The kids and Grammy and Papa all ready for church.


Make a wish!


Tyler testing out his new roller blades! He was so funny! Kayla will have it down by the end of the week - she got a pink pair!

Define Normal

I joked with my dad all day yesterday that today when they left that things would "get back to normal". That has been a joke in our family for several years; every time parents or in-laws leave things are supposed to get back to normal. I had to laugh last night because I feel like that our life is always so nuts that I'm not sure what normal is any more, but I sure would like to find it again!

We had a very good weekend with my parents. And also my husband is home and feeling much better so that is wonderful. They both came through Atlanta Friday night within minutes of the tornado that hit down town. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Saturday we spent just kind of hanging around the house letting Tyler open his birthday presents. I will post pictures from the that hopefully later today. He loved his gifts! We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then out to do some shopping. Yesterday was church. Then last night we played Yahtzee and it was a shame that I had to beat my dad so bad. Poor thing, he went to bed in tears!:) Or maybe that was me!

Now today, I guess we really are back to normal. It's back to just the four of us, Craig and I are both back to work, the kids are both back to school. Tonight we will start back to walking. It has been absolutely beautiful here, except for Saturday afternoon. We had tornado warnings all evening Saturday and we weren't sure where they were going to hit. As always God protected us, and the storm went just to the north of us.

Well, technically I am supposed to be working as I am at work, but I have finished for the morning and am just sitting here waiting for the phone to ring. Our secretary is out today and our part time secretary should be here any minute and then I can jet out of here. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Amazing!

It is so amazing to me how a little time of quiet can rejuvinate me and lift my mood. I have had the whole morning by myself while the kids were at school. After a week of single parenting, it felt wonderful. I am a firm believer in absence makes the heart grow fonder! I have shopped and run errands - I bought myself some new clothes - that always makes you feel better! By the time I picked Tyler up from school I was feeling refreshed! Then I went in to school to learn that he had pooped in the potty today and he was headed there for a second time when I walked in, then he went again when we got home! Yea Tyler! I really do think he is making progress, it is just excruiatingly slow. His birthday is tomorrow and we are not doing a party because I told him that if he wasn't going poop in the big potty by the time he was four then he wasn't having a party. It kind of makes me sad, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We will still have a fun day and my parents are coming down. There will be cake and gifts, but no friends or actual party. Oh well. Next year we will have to celebrate with a big bash! I'm off to put all of my goods away and do some more cleaning. My spring cleaning is coming along nicely and I will hopefully finish it today! Yea!
Oh, before I forget, Craig is beginning to feel better. Last night they ate at a Cheesecake Factory and it is probably the most he has eaten in a week. He will be home today and hopefully he will be on the mend!

Debbie Downer

Okay, brace yourselves, I'm about to be Debbie Downer. Today has been a pretty awful day. Tyler has tested every ounce of patience that I have or had, Kayla has showed her attitude and sassiness several times. They are being 4 and 8 years old; should I expect anything different? No. Then why do I let it get to me? As Shannon and Craig would say, they have been pushing my buttons and I have been letting them. Does anyone know of any Parenting 101 classes??? I know that I have God's Word as a Guide, but I am talking about the stuff like this - tonight Kayla was in the shower, Tyler was sitting on the potty, and I was on the phone (maybe that's enough, I shouldn't have been on the phone:)). Tyler was beating the shower curtain with his pj pants just to annoy Kayla, so Kayla in turn begins to scream "Mama" at the top of her lungs. What do you do about that? Spank them both? Spank Tyler for purposely annoying his sister? AAAGGGHHHH!!!! I also had to tell Tyler that he was not going to be able to eat any more of his afternoon snack or dinner until he finished picking up his toys in the living room. You know the Bible does say that if a man won't work he shouldn't eat either! Okay, and before any of you people call DFACS on me, I wouldn't starve my child for not picking up his toys, but he doesn't need to know that! Trust me, Holly and I have already decided that we don't look good in orange! And I have no desire to have a cellmate named Bertha!
Tyler has again decided that he has absolutely no desire to poop in the potty. Although he did tell me today, "Mama, I have to go to the bathroom because I just can't stand it anymore." I'm not sure what it was he couldn't stand because after that he turned around and pooped in his pants again.
So, there you go - there has been a ton of drama in my week this week! I don't really care for drama. Oh, it might be fun for a moment, but it gets old very quickly. AAAHHH, I think I need a cup of coffee, some chocolate, some Calgon, and a few deep cleansing breaths!

I am Raising a Monkey

So apparently Tyler has waited until this week to try all of his new stunts. Well actually while Ruth and Ron were here over the weekend he started with this new crazy stuff. While they were here, he drove his little ride on car off of the coffee table and missed the brick on the fireplace by about an inch. His response, "Awesome"! My response(I wasn't in the room), "Why in the world was he ON his car ON the coffee table???"
So this morning he tried to climb up the entertainment center. That's right. He started hollering at me, "Mom, help me, I'm stuck." I walked in the living room to find him with his two hands on the top of the entertainment center and his feet in the hole where the VCR is. Again, I just want to know why? What possesses boys to try stuff like this? Kayla never would have thought, "Hey, I think I can climb this thing."

Lisa's Thursday

Hmm, what is on the agenda today? It is 9:00 and I just finished up my embroidery order that I had. I have a gift for Kendall that I need to get started on for her birthday. Other than that, I think I will be cleaning. With Craig gone this week, I have determined that he is right, I am a messie. We always have this discussion - cleanie vs. messie. See, Craig is a cleanie. He is not one of those husbands whom I have to continually pick up his dirty socks and trip over his shoes. He keeps me accountable because I am a messie, but I like keeping my house clean for him. Now don't misunderstand, he is not like the guy from "Sleeping with the Enemy" - that would be James (haha). It is like a love language thing or something - I know he likes the house picked up and it makes me happy to do that for him. But when he is not here, I am a slob!!! All of my friends think that I clean all the time, but I don't. I am an awesome straightener! But today is a CLEANING day - there is no straightening that is going to help the state of my house today! I spring cleaned in Kayla's room last night. She loves to clean baseboards and I love that she loves to do that:) So, I'm on a mission today; an anti-laziness mission because I have been LAZY this week!!!

You Gotta Love an Honest Kid

I hate to tell everyone this and hate even more to have to admit it to myself, but it appears that I will NOT be the next American Idol! I was bandaging up yet another booboo today, this one on Tyler, and I guess he got scared that I was going to try to sing to him, because he looked at me and said, "Mama, your singing is for the birds." Kiss him, isn't he sweet!

Tuesday Drama

Well, you knew there was going to be more drama right? Yep, I'm not one to disappoint.

First of all, have to vent about my writing class - they don't score your tests/exams/assignments until the very end of the class. Then you have to submit a request for scoring and feedback. What kind of class is that?

Kayla went to a friends house after school today. She was looking a little panicked when I got there to pick her up. Apparently she fell outside and cut her finger. The friend's mom told me about and it sounded like it was not that bad. Well, she came out after her shower to have a clean band-aid put on and YIKES she ripped half of the pad of her finger off. It was still bleeding. Not good at all! It was almost as ugly as when she smashed her fingers in the horseshoes(whole 'nother story!). She has been properly bandaged and is in bed sleeping soundly!

And my sweet Tyler, well, his horns came through today. Neither of my children have ever been destructive, until now. We try to teach them to be good stewards of what God has blessed us with and that goes for everything from furniture to clothes to toys. Well, I guess he missed that speech because at some point today he pulled the carpeting loose at the bathroom door threshold. WHO DOES THAT??? What was he thinking? I'm sure there is some purely boy explanation for that, but I don't get it. Hopefully Craig can fix that!

Speaking of Craig we were on the phone together tonight on WebMD trying to diagnose him. I think he has the flu - he thinks he has gallstones. I hope he is better tomorrow. He has been absolutely miserable since Friday night. How long does this thing last?

I declare tomorrow "No Drama Day"!!!

Oh, by the way - Tyler did awesome all day today with the potty training! Praise the Lord!

I am Shocked!

Tyler just came in the house from outside to tell me he had to go to the bathroom!!! This may seem completely insignificant to some of you, but Tyler ALWAYS poops in his pants when he is outside. He has been doing this all day! He has not had a single accident and this has all been his own idea. I'm shocked!!!

Praises and Prayer Requests

Just had to let everyone know that Tyler has been in the bathroom twice this morning to poop! I know you all wanted to know that. But seriously, he has gone in of his own free will without even telling me. That is absolutely huge for us! Dad, I finally did break down and reward him after the second time - I gave him a piece of candy! Yea Tyler!!! Please pray that he continues on!

Also, please pray for my husband. He is still sick and I think he is actually getting worse instead of better. He ate dinner last night, but lost it all as the night wore on. He is away from home and he is miserable. Please pray that this will go away. I told him to try to find a prompt care or something to go to, but I doubt he will do that. Just please pray that he will feel better NOW! Thanks!

Advice for the Day

"Do not despise the day of small beginnings". That is my advice for the day. It works for home stuff, parenting, projects, work, etc. I learned this at an AWANA conference last year and I have gone back to it time and time again. Most of the time I come back to this when I am trying to get stuff done around the house and falling behind miserably. This morning it has dawned on me that this goes for so many other things as well. Sometimes it seems that we have so much on our plates that we don't know where to begin. It doesn't matter WHERE you begin - just begin. This quote is actually straight from God's Word although I can't remember the reference right now. But I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in all that we are not doing right or all that we are not getting done that we forget to focus on what we have accomplished. It might be as simple as getting one load of laundry completely done from start to finish, including ironing (threw that in there for Mom:)or it might be stopping yourself from yelling at your children just one time. Whatever it is, focus on it. Focus on the small steps!

There you go - Lisa's advice column for the day!!! Had to share...

Do You Ever Get Irritated With Yourself?

If so, then stand by, I'm about to make you feel better! So, if you know me, you know I love to find good deals - I mean, really good deals. I rarely pay full price for anything and if I do pay full price it's because I'm buying something that has excellent ebay resale value. I say all that to say that I got roped in by Amazon.com. I actually love Amazon, but not all of their deals are good deals. Well, last week they were having all of these deals on groceries. I'm thinkin' - groceries? You can buy groceries online? Well, I have to try this. Let me just tell you - I got my stuff and I will NOT do this again. They had all of these coupon codes and free shipping and so I felt like I was getting a good deal. Well, upon receipt of my stuff I think I got took. Actually the price that I paid was probably good if you are buying this stuff when it is not on sale, but I try not to do that unless it is something that I absolutely have to have. SO, I know you are dying to know what I bought and how much I spent right? Okay, I'll tell you what I bought, but I'm not saying what I spent:)I got 6 boxes of Cascadian Farms Oats & Honey cereal, 12 boxes of Betty Crocker Three Cheese potatoes, and 120 Fruit Rollups. I promise ya'll, I don't usually buy Fruit snacks and rollups for my kids because the dentist told me they cause cavities. Well, last week at the store I got two boxes of fruit snacks free with these granola bars that I bought. Now I have another 120 of them!!! And where do they come up with that name anyway - FRUIT rollups? There cannot possibly be any fruit in these things! AND they have tattoos on them so now not only will my children be rotting their teeth but their tongue as well. What was I thinking?

The Adventure Continues

Oh me! Kayla started throwing up at about 11:30 last night. Luckily everything made it where it was supposed to go! She is so sweet. She said, "Mama, I'm sorry I'm keeping you up so late.". Isn't that sweet? Anyway, she spent the night with me and we will be home today as well. She seems to be feeling better but I know that Craig's came and went. I'm supposed to be meeting with a client at 10:00 this morning. Oh, well, they will have to wait. We are going to try to get Tyler to school this morning and then we are coming home and I am going to Lysol EVERYTHING, wash sheets AGAIN, and try to prevent this mess from going any further. Thank you to all of my wonderful friends who have offered to help this week - you guys are the bomb! I wouldn't subject anybody to this junk for anything though unless I was desperate! If I find myself in the corner rolled into the fetal position clutching my Lysol in one hand and the trash can in the other then I will call; otherwise we are going to try to keep this to ourselves!

The Adventure Begins

Okay, so I get the kids to church and I enlist Kayla and Kendall's help in getting my AWANA rooms ready. Well, I begin to get slightly paranoid because oftentimes Tyler likes to have his "movement" right before going to Cubbies, so I am watching him like a hawk and I keep asking him if he has to go. Sure enough he says to me, I have to poop. Great! I've got teachers coming in a few minutes, rooms that need to be set up, and he has to go poop. This IS a good thing, right? Well, the bathroom is just a few doors down from my room so I bribe Kayla and Kendall to take him by promising them candy - that's what every good mom does right? So, off they go to the bathroom and I continue on with getting my stuff ready. Everything is going fine until the fire alarm in our church goes off. That's right - loud and flashing. Kayla and Kendall come running out of the bathroom - Kayla is freaking out. Next, here comes Tyler with his pants and pullup down around his ankles and he is crying. Great! Thanks to the kids who pulled that by the way - very funny! So, of course, we all head downstairs to find out that some kids pulled it thinking that would be funny. Would have been funny except now I have two children who are traumatized and don't want to leave my side because they are scared there is a fire. Well, Kayla and Kendall head out to the playground for a few minutes before AWANA starts, I get my stuff finished, get Tyler delivered to his class, and head to opening ceremony only to meet Kayla in the hallway. Seems some older boy has traumatized her on the tire swing and her stomach is not feeling well. So she ended up spending the night with me while I made my rounds. By the end of the night she was holding the trash can scared she was going to throw up. Now we are home. PJ's have been donned, teeth have been brushed, and a book has been read. Kayla is sleeping with the trash can. Tyler is up for his second time; first because he was scared; second to use the bathroom. How long will this night go on?

Lesson 3

Okay, so last night I submitted my third exam for my writing class. I was so excited because we are actually getting in to writing some stuff. I actually wrote about 3 or 4 pages of a "book". Our exam was one essay question based on the material that we had went over about following your creative muse. So, I actually submitted the first several paragraphs of my "book" as part of my essay answer. Craig read it and said, "There is an awful lot of drama going on there!". Hello! Does he not know that we as women oftentimes thrive on drama, and if we don't have enough drama in our own lives, we will borrow some from friends? Anyway, I keep checking my grades to see if our instructor has graded them yet, but so far I am still "under review". If I get a good grade, I'll let you know. If not, I will probably burn what I wrote and keep my grade to myself! Hahaha!

Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me

Do ya'll remember that little tune from the HeeHaw days? There have been all of those things around here today. Craig is still sick and stayed home from church this morning. He is on his way out to do some work stuff that will have him tied up most of the week. Ruth and Ron left soon after getting home from church. Kayla does not handle saying goodbye very easily. I had told them we were going to have some "rest" time this afternoon. Well, I'm deciding it is really not that big of a deal. I said, why don't we just postpone rest time and veg out in front of the tv. To which Tyler replies, "AWESOME"!!

I'm trying very hard to convince myself that I am NOT getting the plague. My stomach has not felt quite right today. If I can get through AWANA tonight without getting sick, then I think I'll be fine. But with Craig doing his work thing, I have got to be there tonight. Hopefully, I will not have any single parenting adventures this week!

Not as Planned

Well, our day did not turn out at all as we planned. With Craig not feeling well and the wind howling and the temperatures frigid, we skipped our hike. We have just kind of lazed around all day. I think Craig is on the mend and just really think that his food did not agree with him last night. He doesn't have any other flu like symptoms. He and his dad went and bought bikes for his dad and mom. They have been out trying those out and are now trying to figure out how they are going to get them in their car to take them back home tomorrow. They will leave tomorrow afternoon provided that the roads are all clear.

We have been having beautiful weather here and I planned for barbequed chicken and potato salad for dinner and it is the coldest day of the week! Oh, well, we'll enjoy it anyway. After dinner we will head out for a walk since we missed our hike today!

Tyler has been kind of a pill this weekend. He was wild last night when our friends were here - I was so embarrassed - sorry guys! Today we are in crack down mode and he has received several spankings for being disobedient. What am I going to do with him?

The Plague Returns

Craig has the plague! He has been up off and on all night. He is not sure if it was the Japanese food last night or if it is truly the plague. Stay tuned...

Fun Times

We have had a fun morning with Craig's parents. Craig got off work at about 9:30 this morning and decided that we all needed to go to Dunkin' Donuts for a "snack" before we went shopping. So we went and gorged ourselves on doughnuts and then went to Academy Sports. Craig and his dad LOVE A.S.. Craig didn't realize his mom had never been in there, so we had to have a short moment of silence to commemorate her first visit - they were hilarious! Anyway, we spent ALOT of time in there, and guess what? WE BOUGHT A TENT!!! WOW! I'm scared! Just kidding; I think it might could be fun! Anyway, we left there and went to Target to buy Tyler a birthday present. We ended up with a monster truck for him and a pair of in-line skates for both kids. Ssshhh! It is a secret until next Saturday - Kayla will be just as thrilled as Tyler.
Now they are all off to get a tire changed. Ruth and Ron had two flat tires while on vacation this past week - luckily they were covered under their road hazard warranty, so that was good. I stayed home with Tyler so he could nap - yeah right! He is having no part of that! He should be in a great mood for dinner tonight. We are going to Kayla's favorite restaurant with some friends tonight for Kayla's spiritual birthday. It is one of those places where they cook in front of you and set stuff on fire - my kids are pyromaniacs! Hopefully, Tyler will stay half way chipper for the festivities tonight!

The Potato Project

Kayla has a curriculum fair project due tomorrow. You do know that these projects are actually for the parents right? I mean, I think that they want to know how much of your "learnin'" you remember. Well, I don't remember much, let me tell you. I'm so thankful for the internet, because I can type in curriculum fair projects and it just brings up a wealth of information! So, Kayla decided that she wanted to grow germs on potatoes, so last Friday we set about cutting up a potato and rubbing it on different surfaces to see which surface grew the most germs. It was, um, interesting. I had just cleaned my sink and Kayla had just washed her hands, so I'm not sure that those two surfaces brought about the right conclusions, but anyway, it is done and here are the pics to prove it! I think I did good, don't you? Actually she did do most of it! Do you know that they grade them on that, seriously! They get a grade for whether or not the project looks like it is their work. So, we'll see...

Tyler's Prayer

For a long time, Tyler has prayed the same pray for everything over and over again. Well, now, he is beginning to actually put some thought into his prayers. They are so pure and so funny that I had to post the one from breakfast this morning.

"Thank you that I go poop poo now; thank you that I like everyone, thank you that I don't eat anything without asking. Amen"

It made me smile this morning. Every time he says thank you that I go poop poo on the big potty, I wait for the lightning to strike! That is how most of his prayers start out - "thank you I go on the big potty"! Anyway, it made me smile this morning!

John Peter

Okay, so awhile back I told ya'll about Tyler's imaginary "boyfriend". Well, he is still with us. Yep, that's right, John Peter is his name. It seems that John Peter is quite a little character. We were out tonight and Tyler was telling us some serious stories about John Peter. Apparently he works by the jail and the Chick-Fil-A AND he says "shut up", which is a major bad word in our house. We haven't quite figured out his position with Tyler yet - one day he is his brother, one day he is his friend, and tonight he was giving John Peter a spanking for saying "shut up". Craig thinks this is all very healthy because he is using his imagination; I'm thinking maybe a child psychiatrist might be good!:-) One thing that we have learned is that John Peter does NOT poop in his pants - how funny is that? Maybe that will rub off on Tyler.

BORING!!!

Okay, so today was a boring day. Not much to tell about. I went to work this morning and there was NOTHING for me to do, so I basically hung out and chatted for 2 1/2 hours. I missed work on Monday since Tyler was sick so I felt like I needed to be there today, but be there was pretty much it. I stopped at two different stores to try to get ink for our printer. Apparently it is too new? What does that mean? Kayla has this big project due on Friday and I have no ink in my printer - this is not a good situation! Tomorrow we will be on a quest for ink. Anyway, picked up Tyler, got home and got him down for a nap. I have straightened up and made a grocery list for tomorrow. My in laws will be here tomorrow night in time for supper and the cupboards are bare! I'm so used to grocery shopping by myself these days because Tyler is usually at school, but tomorrow he will be me. He is not always a very good shopper. I hope he is in a good mood tomorrow!

Oh, I have to tell ya'll about my writing assignment for the lesson that I'm on. They give you this very abstract picture and tell you to tell the picture's story. Wow! So to me the picture looked like a smiling old man, so I wrote about him - it was so cool.

I Got Blasted

Wow, my family all joined together to blast me about the camping thing. Thanks guys! Yes, I do prefer the Holiday Inn, but I also recognize that my children need to experience the great outdoors up close and personal just like I did as a kid. However, Dad, hopefully none of them will hook my ear in their fishing attempts AND, Craig and I will try not to wedge our van between two trees!!!

Normal?

I think everything is back to normal around here - as normal as normal gets anyway. Tyler is well and will be going back to K-3 tomorrow barring any setbacks between now and then. Since he is going back to school I will also be going back to work. I told Craig tonight that I was going to have to quit my job because it was ruining my social life. I had some friends ask me to go on a fun girls "field trip" tomorrow, but had to say no because, well, I'm working. Oh well - I really can't complain since I barely work 6 hours a week. I guess I will hush!

Craig's mom and dad will be here Thursday. We are planning a hike for Saturday. That should be fun. Craig and I and the kids have been walking this week and it has been so nice! On our last trip around the block we ditch the stroller for Tyler's bicycle. He is so funny! Tonight he actually made it all the way around the block on his bike and he had a blast!

Kayla is growing rotten potatoes this week for a school project. We are trying to see which surfaces grow more germs. Fun, huh? It makes me want to break out the bleach and kill the germs! More on that later in the week!

Oh, one more thing - I think Craig and I are fixin' to buy a tent! Yikes! See, what happens is is that when it is beautiful weather this time of year, I get to where I feel real outdoorsy, and I want to be outside in the yard and the garden, and then the feeling passes the next day! hahaha! Anyway, I've been really thinking that I'm depriving my children of the fun of camping so, yes, City Girl Lisa, is about to head out into the wilderness. We'll see...

The Plague, Part II

It looks as though Tyler is getting over this nasty stomach bug. He was pretty pitiful still this morning sitting on the couch holding the trash can! He hasn't thrown up since late Sunday night, but he hasn't eaten much and you can tell his stomach still doesn't feel quite right. Craig and I have had a few mild symptoms, but nothing too serious. Kayla seems to be doing fine. Hopefully this will not be something that we pass back and forth. I have washed my hands until they are raw and I have washed sheets and blankets in steaming hot water, so maybe I have succeeded in killing all the germs! We are going to try to venture out for a little while this morning. Today is Kayla's spiritual birthday so we are having a little celebration tonight that I need to get stuff for and then when Ruth and Ron come this weekend we will go to her favorite restaurant for dinner and have a chocolate chocolate chip cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream! It is a special day!

The Plague

Well, it's true - we seem to be suffering from the plague! I just read Holly's blog and Luke is sick, talked to Shannon and Kendall is sick along with about 10 other people from our church. Yuck! Can you say Lysol and Purell?

Tyler threw up again about 11:00 last night in his bed - that was NOT fun. Then we were up at 3 a.m. administering Motrin for the fever that he was running. Totally overslept this morning because I was worn out from the night that we had. So I rushed Kayla out the door to school only to find out that several of her friends from church are sick this morning. Hopefully I will not get any calls from the school today, but I plan to get myself showered and dressed early this morning just in case.

On a good note this means that I have an unexpected day at home and I love that. I wish it was not at one of my children's expense, but I plan to enjoy it all the same. Tyler is actually acting fine right now, no more throwing up, and he had breakfast this morning and has been drinking water. So far everything has been kept down.

More on the plague later...

Sick Kid???

Oh, what a lovely day! We made it to church this morning and then Craig ended up having to leave to go to work. So, I had one child down for a nap and the other child playing with her friend from across the street. I was quietly working on my next lesson in my writing class. We had a friend coming over to look at a bookshelf because he was going to give us an estimate on building a new one, a little bit bigger than the one we have now. Just before he showed up Tyler woke up crying and telling me his tummy hurt. Well, naturally, I think NOTHING about it except that he has to go to the bathroom. Well, our friend arrives and we are chatting about the bookshelf and all. I put Tyler on my lap and he lets this big burp and then proceeds to start vomitting all the way down the hallway. I was so embarrassed - sorry Doug!!! So of course, we kept him home from church. I went to do AWANA and Craig stayed with Tyler. I got home to find him happy as a pig in slop (that's a southern term by the way for all of my northern readers!), running around having a big time. We will see how the night pans out. If he does good through the night then I will probably send him to school tomorrow, if not, we will be staying at home and keeping our germs to ourself!