WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

God's Gift #1,478,903 : Handling Puke...

How is it that being a mother gives
you magical powers, like being able
to keep your cookies when your
oldest child pukes all over you???
I thought about tossing said cookies
a time or two last night when I was
the target of Matthew's strep-induced
vomiting. Let me paint a picture for
you...

While waiting in the underwater world,
that is our fabulous doctor's office, it
happened. I was minding my own business,
standing ever-so-patiently for my two
children to be seen. I was holding a
feverish, sleeping Matthew and trying
to wrangle an extremely mobile, 14
month old. I had told my sweet hubby
that I could handle it...I knew he really
needed to study. Everything was going
rather well, I thought, for a while. Then,
suddenly, it happened...

I will not give any details, other than to
say I almost had a meltdown. I felt my
face flush, and my stomach turn. I kept
telling myself, "It will be okay. Just take
a deep.... NOOOOO, don't
take a deep breath!!!"
Oddly enough, it took me trying
to take a deep breath multiple times before
I realized that this was not a good idea. I
called my husband, who was 20 minutes
away, and told him he had to bring
Matthew and me some new clothes
immediately. That was the longest 20
minutes of my life...(well, not really...I
would say the longest twenty minutes
of my life was the trip from home to the
hospital, when I thought Logann was
going to be born on the side of the road!)

When it was all said and done, and I had
on fresh, clean clothes, Matthew had strep
and received a shot of penicillin, and Logann
had a double ear infection, and was sent
home with ten days worth of antibiotics.
We were the last people to leave the office
last night, and left with a lovely parting gift,
our bag of gross clothes.

I am home with the children today, glad
that they are on their roads to recovery. I
think I might be scarred by this for a while,
but it has me thinking.

How is it possible that God gives me the
ability to handle situations like this?
Though I was freaking out on the inside,
I was keeping cool on the outside, as my
son said repeatedly, "I'm sorry, Mommy.
I'm sorry."

I wanted to cry, scream, and
just flip out. I didn't though. Why??? I
think it is because God covers mothers
with an amazing strength and peace in
tough situations. Though I could have
done without EVER experiencing this,
I am reminded how wonderful my God
is. He fully prepares me with His strength
and love every day. I am blessed to be
the mother to Matthew and Logann,
puke...or no puke.

Priceless Pictures from the Park

Today, in my small, sweet town, it

was 66 degrees! A rare treat this time
of year...one that I will gladly accept.
I took the children to the park, which
is only about a mile from our house.
The kiddos let me push them on the
swings, went down the slides, and
ran around like the little yahoos they
truly are.

We dined on ice cream cones at
Sonic before our afternoon was over.


This weather and these sweet faces
made me long for the spring and
summer to come. I can't wait to
enjoy many more afternoons
like this one!

I'm Beautiful!!!

Much to my surprise, I found out
today that I was given a "Beautiful
Blogger" award by Jennifer at
"The Toy Box Years"! This was so
sweet of her, and made me smile.
:)

Per the rules of winning the award, I'd like to
pass this award on! The rules are simple:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for
this award and insert a link to their blog.

2. Copy and paste the award into your blog

3. Share 7 things about yourself.

4. Pass on the award to about 10 other
bloggers who you recently discovered and
think are great! (in no particular order)
*********************************************

So, here are my 7 things.......

1. I teach at the elementary school I attended as
a child, and I absolutely love being there.
2. I rarely pay full price for ANYTHING.
I love a good deal!
3. I have a severe sweet tooth that I am
trying to tame...in the past I have been
known to eat cookies for dinner!
4. I was told by a wise person that I should
"be friends with" a certain person, and now,
about 10 years later, we have been best
friends ever since!
5. I am addicted to HGTV!
6. To go to sleep, all doors (closet, bathroom,
and bedroom) must be closed, also, no
lights and no TV
7. I am happiest when I am in the mountains.

******************************************

And here are my nominees:

BeeMusings

Our Journey of Love

To Heaven and Back

and then she said...are you kidding me?

My Journey

From Here to Colby: Bringing Our Baby Home

I'm A Mommy

Sweet Caroline

Countdown to Tyler

Yellow House

Gifts of God

Low Fat Blueberry Muffins

As many of you know, I am working
on losing baby weight (plus some)!!!
I have been very creative in my
attempt to do this. Below is a low
fat version of Betty Crocker's muffins.

Follow sweet Betty Crocker's recipe on

the box, but substitute 1/4 cup egg beaters
for the egg and 1/4 applesauce for oil.
Be sure to use skim milk also. They have
@ 125 calories & 1.5 grams of fat! They
are so yummy!

Every little bit helps!

Not Me! Monday

Is it Monday, again??? Time to confess.
Here goes...this weekend, I did NOT
think many times that A) I desperately
need a real babysitter and B) that I might
like to not have children (only briefly) so
that I could go out to dinner with my
Valentine. I then, did NOT have to
remind myself that "I'm gonna miss this."
I mean...who doesn't get to go out with
their Valentine???

This week, I also did NOT go to
change Logann's diaper and see this...

I mean whose husband really
writes on their child's belly to
surprise the mommy? NOT mine!
And then, really, who goes and get
their camera to take a picture???
NOT me!

This week, I did NOT have to go to
my son's school to "correct his behavior"
because my child would NEVER
embarrass his mother that way. He
acts completely appropriate at ALL
times! (wink, wink)

I did NOT desperately want a
cinnapie from PapaJohns Saturday.
I did NOT go get one (for dinner)
and plan to eat the whole thing.
I was NOT lucky that this particular
cinnapie was not great, thus NOT forcing
me to trash the uneaten portion! I
was NOT so glad I did not eat the
whole thing! I would NOT have felt
sick and miserable afterwords. Who
eats cinnapie for dinner? NOT me!

I think I'm done. If you want to
hop over to MckMama's blog
to see what others have NOT
been doing, I highly recommend it!

Happy Valentines Day!

Today was a good day! Nothing too
exciting, just family time and time
with church family. What more
could you ask for???

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Love, Lollipops, Logann's Bows, Law School, and Locomotion

Today I got to stay home with my kiddos
due to snow! I thought I would take a
few moments and update. Here goes...

Subject #1 - Love

Matthew is getting in the spirit of
Valentine's Day by getting his goody
bags ready for his party on Friday.

Speaking of love...did you know that
I LOVE these kids soooo much???
Completely makes me understand
God's love for me much more!

Subject #2 - Lollipops

I surprised myself by giving Logann
her first ever lollipop. She liked it
for a few moments, but couldn't
figure out that she was not supposed
to hold it by the top!

Subject #3 - Logann's Hair Bows

I have waited many years to be able
to buy hair bows, and then make my
daughter wear them. I enjoy nothing
more than finding a bow to match a
new outfit. I kept losing them, so I
made this little ditty to keep them in
one place!

Subject #4 - Law School

Today is my husband's first day of
law school. I am so proud of him. I
can not think of an area that he is
better suited for...not sure why he
got a degree in accounting. I hope he
had a great first day! I love you, Chris!

(Sorry, no pictures here.)

Subject #5 - Locomotion

Look at Logann...walking! It seems
so strange to see, but she is loving
the freedom. My baby is growing up!

Sorry for the long post and all the "L"
words...just wanted to get it all in and
was trying to be a little creative!
Maybe I was not successful, oh well!

Not Me! Monday

I have taken a break from the "NOT ME!" but this week,
I am returning! You can read many more confessions
written by other moms at MckMama's blog.

This week, I most certainly did NOT hear my
oldest child call his sister (a one year old)
a "loser". My child never calls names. NOT
even at his preschool, where he called a friend
a "poopy-face". I do not know how my child ever
could think of such things.

I am NOT putting my children to bed tonight
at 6:30 because they are NOT terribly cranky
and whiny. I would never make them go to bed
so early!

I did NOT have to rewash a load of clothes three
times because I kept forgetting to put them in
the dryer. I am also NOT coveting my mother-
in-law's new washer and dryer because
it actually drys a load of clothes in one cycle...
unlike mine!

I also do NOT hope that it snows like
crazy tonight so that I do not have to go to
school tomorrow! Our school system did
NOT have 13 snow days built in, and we
have NOT only used 7, giving us a remaining
6 days that must be used! I did NOT just
look out the window to see that it is NOT
snowing steadily at this moment!

And finally....
I have NOT lost 17 pounds of my baby weight!
I am NOT the least bit excited, and NOT a little
bit frustrated because I still do not need to lose
about 50 more! I did NOT have a "cheat" night
for the Super Bowl and eat pizza! Not ME!!!

Our Big Snow

I'm a little late posting this, but
here is a picture from last week
when we had about 7-9 inches
of snow. We don't usually get
that much, so it was kind of a big
deal. I am not one who loves
to play in the snow
either, but I just had to!

Yesterday morning, I looked
out to see that it had snowed
a little again. It didn't amount
to much, but I still think
it is neat to look out and see
some "white stuff". I like winter,
but I am ready for spring!

Logann's 12 Month Pictures...at 13 Months

Better late than never, right??? Logann did
not want ANY part of picture taking yesterday.
From the moment I sat her down, she started
crying. Then, when we could get her to stop
crying and smile, she did not want to sit still!
I still think she is beautiful!

After crying calmed down...

Still not sure what she thinks...

Cute!

Taking off...

Bow change...and more cute!

Oh...a teddy bear!

I love it!

Ok...now she's done!

FREE Books!

I just found out today about a program
started by Dolly Parton that I think
is incredible! I am not sure how many
cities/states do this, but I
thought I would share the information
and let you check into it! I signed both
of my children up today. They will each
receive one free book a
month until they turn 5!

Here is the link to
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

WOOHOO!!! We love books!!!


Here's a picture from today I thought
you might enjoy just because she
is so darn cute!

Can You Say "GREEN"?

Matthew's room has been my little project

since I have been snowed in the past few
days. His nursery had lots of red and white
gingham and a really cute fish pattern.
It was blue, as seen here:

(Matthew rearranged his name a little!)


BUT...

I wanted a bright color for Matthew's room.
I was torn between repainting it in a brighter
blue, khaki (I know not very bright), and
a green. I gave Matthew a few choices and
I let him help me pick the color. It does
not look quite like it did in the store, but
we think we like it :)

Well...here it is! It is not completely done, but
this is the start.

(GREEN!)
(Oh yeah, the bed in this pic was mine when
I was little. Matthew will be getting a new
one when Logann is old enough to sleep in
a big bed. Until then, Matthew gets to
enjoy my little bed.)