There's no swimmin in ma show!

Little Man is taking a mommy and me swim class. This means by proxy I am taking a mommy and me swim class. I cannot stand getting out there in front of everyone in a swim suit BUT mylittle guy is learning to swim and that is what is important. This coming Saturday is our last class for the quarter. That means he has had 7 classes so far. For the first 5 he screamed his head off through the entire class. I finally bought him a warm belly wetsuit and I think it made a huge difference for him. He still cried a little bit this last time but it wasn't nearly as bad. Also, last night during his bath he actually laid down in the tub on his back.

Taco Ring, Bouncing and Coke

Yesterday I was supposed to meet Jenn at Avanti Gourmet for lunch and then go to Kids Party Jumps for a playdate. When we arrived we discovered that Avanti was closed on Mondays. Sarah had just called Jenn to see if she wanted to take the kids to the jump place and was in the process of making a taco ring. So, instead of eating out Sarah invited to us come over with the kiddos, eat lunch and still make a trip to the bounce place. I have to say you can tell that Jenn and Sarah's girls love each other because they fight like sisters! :) Munchkin had a great time playing with them and Little Man was the brunt of many shooting objects from all of the girls. Poor guy...it already begins.

Jenn, Sarah and I had a really good conversation about the need for quiet. We really do need that time to be able to hear what God is saying to us. I have never been one to say "You must have a quiet time at 5am or your day will just not be right." But I do find when I start my day with prayer and listening to what God has to say I get off to a better start.

At Kids Party Jumps all three of the girls ran off right away while Little Man found the Diego Jeep and stayed in it pretty much the entire time we were there. Right before we were going to leave Munchkin walked right into the edge of a table. She still has a little mark on her eye today but it isn't too bad. I swear my kids are an accident waiting to happen! Jenn (silly girl) went and got sprites for all of the kids. Someone from Coke needs to see the pictures we took and sign our kiddos for a commercial or something! :)

This has been a week of hanging out with friends. I love it! God knows when I need that the most.
Of course when Jenn was on the phone her little mischief maker was getting into the black eyeliner.

Instant Coke commercial

Giving some love

My sweet babies

Spontaneous Fun

Last night while I was at the grocery store I got a call from my friend Beth. She and her family were craving some Mexican food and thought of us. They wondered if we could meet somewhere for dinner. I had about 3 more items to get and was going to check out so I told her we would meet her but it would be about an hour. I had to run home with Munchkin, unload the groceries, change my shirt, and pick up Bobby and Little Man. We made it just a couple of minutes before Beth, Grant and their 2 boys got there. We love this family. Not only because the love Jesus but also because they are from California and are as laid back and unscheduled as we are. Unscheduled meaning spontaneous of course! :)

Beth was pregnant with their littlest guy when we met them. The last couple of times we have met we have marveled over the fact that her little guy turned 3 this weekend. Where did the last three years go? The first time Munchkin and their older boy played together was at Wendy's after church one Sunday. They were next to us, we rolled down the windows and agreed to meet at Wendy's. The kids have been buddies ever since. This first picture is going in their wedding slideshow!

Anyway, we met at Ricardo's and spent most of the time trying to get the kids to eat and just enjoying each others company. Her kids ate much better than mine did but they all got ring pops for dessert anyway. They were all thrilled with their bling!

Munchkin and her future husband

Me and Beth

Her Little Guy and My Little Man Check out my ring pop!

I have already lost 2 teeth!Check out my ring pop, too!

Oscars

Last night I did not watch much of the Oscars. I kind of snoozed through the end of them. But, I read about this today and had to share it. There are 2 mild naughty words in it (just so ya know!)

Conversation in the back seat

The other day I was taking a friends daughter to dance class. She had been playing at our house that afternoon and the girls had had a great time. They had played veterinarian, tea party, ballet, dress up, Wii-Play, and had had lunch. Munchkin rode in Little Mans car seat while our friend rode in her booster seat. The two girls were drawing on leftover valentines they had found in the back seat. Here was their conversation:
Munchkin: I am drawing on this valentine for you!
Friend: Why are you scribbling? That is for babies.
Munchkin: Well, I liked to scribble when I was 1 and I liked to scribble when I was 2, and I still like to scribble!
Friend: Well, we are still kids since you are 4 and I am 5.

I almost laughed out loud but kept listening.

Friend: Why do you like your brothers carseat so much?
Munchkin: Well, when he is in it I can stick stuff under him and Mommy doesn't know. Then he has to sit on stuff.

At this point I had to say "I can hear you back there!" I wondered how he got a half eaten sucker under his bum the other day.

Munchkin will be starting Kindergarten in the fall and I have been a little worried about how she will stand up to other kids. I don't think I am going to have to worry too much.

Twins?

I have been asked 5 times in the last month and a half if my kids are twins. Munchkin and Little Man are 23 months apart. He is catching up quickly in height and is only a couple of pounds lighter. When Little Man was younger we continually told Munchkin to watch what she was doing because it wouldn't be long until he caught up with her and would be able to beat her at her own game. Well, that day has come. Not only did he shut her fingers in the door at the Doctor, Bobby sent me a text message yesterday with a picture of a giant purple knot on her forehead. Yes, Little Man whacked her with a wii-mote. grrr.

It was a God thing...

Tonight was Girls gone wild...I mean MOPS moms night out for dessert at Chefs Market. When I got there at 6:30 I was the only one there. Granted the Mothers Day Out program at our church had something as well but I was really confused. Who would pass up dessert at Chefs Market? Well, I was talking to a friend on the phone when a girl I recognized from MOPS walked up. I told her I was glad she was there and we were the only 2 there so far. She looked kind of confused and asked what I was there for. When I told her for MOPS she told me she was there with a Moms of Special Needs Kids group.
Like I have talked about in previous posts we have had some testing done the last couple of days. We have gone through TEIS for the last year and a half and our Little Man has Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (ACC - more info here). His speech evaluation was today and Little Man was recommended for speech therapy twice a week. So, I really needed other moms to talk to today and God sent them to me. The girl asked me to come sit with them since none of my group was there yet. I met 20 other moms of kids with special needs who are going through the IEP process or working with TEIS, or have older kids and have been through the process. Plus, the girl sitting across from me also got her Masters Degree from APU! That was a nice surprise since no one here has ever heard of APU much less gone there.

After hanging out with all of those ladies I was able to hang out with several MOPS moms that got there a little bit later. Two different groups of women with different stories. It makes me want to cry thinking about it and the people God placed in my life tonight when I was worried that I was going to eat dessert all alone. Thank you God for providing the things and people I need.

Today's Adventure

Have you ever had one of those days where you should just know you are in for it? It really wasn't that bad at all but it has been one of those days. The first clue was when I drove through the bank to deposit a check and they were closed due to Presidents Day. "Not a problem" I thought since I made sure to leave some money in our account after paying bills this morning.
We were headed downtown to have a hearing evaluation done on Little Man. It is part of the process for his IEP. We got almost downtown and I realized we needed gas...right now! So of course it was $.10 more per gallon at the station downtown than it was by our house. That's OK, we still have money in the account.
We got to Vandy Hospital with plenty of time to spare. We actually got up to the Hearing Center about 20 minutes early. I sat down to fill out the paperwork while the kiddos went to go wait in the playroom. All of a sudden there is bloody murder screaming and crying coming from that direction. There were quite a few people of advanced age in the room and I am sure each and everyone of them could probably hear after this scene. Little Man slammed Munchkins fingers in the door of the playroom. I have never heard Munchkin scream like she did this morning. The people at the Bill Wilkerson Center were FANTASTIC! They called the peds department to let them know we were coming and even sent a lady with us to catch a shuttle over to the Children's Peds walk in clinic. We ended up waiting quite awhile and by the time we were seen Munchkin was feeling much better. They taped 2 of her fingers together, gave her some Motrin, and told us to contact her doctor if it gets worse. It looked horrible and I really thought her fingers were broken. I guess they are just very badly bruised.

After all that it was around 12:30 pm. All three of us were hungry but every place to eat in the hospital was packed. I ran into a gift shop and got packaged donuts for each of the kids to eat once we got back over to Bill Wilkerson. We walked back because I didn't want to stand and wait for the shuttle..and it really wasn't all that far. An added bonus was that it is much nicer today than it has been so it was nice to walk outside for a little while.

Everyone at Bill Wilkerson fawned all over Munchkin and her fingers. They were so nice to us and worked us back in. I think we waited about 15 minutes before they called us back for Little Mans hearing evaluation. He passed with flying colors. Woo hoo!! :) Now we go back tomorrow for his Speech Evaluation. Hopefully tomorrow will go much more smoothly and we won't end up back in the doctors office. Little Man fell asleep before we were even out of the parking structure and is still asleep as I type this. Sweet kids. They were angels today. There are some days when I want to pull my hair out taking them places but this was not one of them. Even with smashed fingers and not eating and taking a super late nap they were polite and played well together. I love it when they are sweet to each other. Now I think I am going to go try and scrap. We'll see how that goes...

9th grade

When I was in 9th grade I wrote the lyrics to "We didn't start the fire" in a history paper. I got an A. There is no point to this except that it was funny then and I still think it is funny now. The reason I thought of it is because I heard that song on the radio tonight on my way home from a baby shower. The thought crossed my mind that I knew those lyrics in 9th grade....are things so different now? Will my kids know about hypodermic needles and AIDS in 9th grade or will it be far earlier? I pray I can protect them as much as possible but know that it will be impossible to shelter them from everything.

Slave to Advertising

I really didn't think it would happen. I really didn't think my children would be sucked in by the world of advertising. Boy was I wrong! While driving around in the snow this afternoon the song Don't You Want Me Baby came on the radio. As Bobby and I were singing along like the good 32 year olds we are (it came out in 81) we realized Munchkin was singing along as well. All of a sudden she got really excited and practically yelled "I know this song! This is from that commercial with the cookies in the car and the big hand keeps taking them out!" She was right. She saw that commercial during the Super Bowl and it stuck!

This is not the first commercial that has stuck with her. She told me we needed to get some cleaning product she had seen and she really wants to get Hooked On Phonics so she can learn to read.

On a slightly different note, we were with the Jackson's at Chickfila when Munchkin disappeared. Little Man had already thrown his cup away but wanted more to drink. All of sudden here comes Munchkin with another drink for her brother. When I asked her where she got it she got all cute and shy and said I just asked for it. She then said "I just said may I please have another drink for my little brother?" And they gave it to her! What am I in for when this child is a teenager?

Lent

Last year I wrote a post on Lent. You can find it here. There is a link there that talks more about Lent and its origins. This year I contemplated giving up fast food for Lent but I think a better choice would be chocolate. Lent is something I have been practicing for several years. I like having the reminder the 40 days before Easter to really focus on God. I know my focus should always be on Christ but sometimes it gets a little skewed. This helps my focus. If you practice Lent what is something you are giving up for 40 days?

Sigh....

I have such a sweet hubby! :) Wednesdays are always busy for us but yesterday really did us in. I had MOPS in the morning plus I had to teach Munchkins class that night at church. That didn't really leave us much time to have a date. So, we had a date in the middle of the day. After MOPS I dropped Munchkin and Little Man off at the Jackson's house to play, then I met Bobby at the movies. We saw Music and Lyrics which was a really sweet Valentine movie to see. At MOPS I had won a $10 gift certificate to O'Charleys so we went there for an early dinner. Then we had to get back to church.
When I got home Bobby was furiously typing away on his laptop. Earlier I had joked about no flowers at the movie theater and he had joked back about "not yet!" I love flowers as much as the next girl but you know the way to this girls heart is chocolate. Well, when I got home he told me he was really upset because he had ordered something for me and it wasn't here yet. He was emailing whoever it was to tell them how disappointed he was. Guess what came today? My See's candy came today while we were out at swimming lessons. The man knows me too well!

Thank you Craig and Julie

So, I was going to steal Jenn's idea and post a bunch of pictures but apparently I need to scan some.
Craig and Julie have been our Sunday School teachers for the last 5 1/2 years. We met them after I met their daughter at Family Christian Store. We were looking for a young marrieds class at a church with good worship music and solid teaching. They taught the class we were looking for. The very first Sunday we met them they took us out to lunch with 2 other couples. We fit right in and had new friends.
Now, it is time for them to move on to something different. Thank you for being solid mentors and good friends. We look forward to "living life" with you in a different way!

I was just going through some of the old pictures in the laptop and came across these. Munchkin does not look thrilled to be choked by her cousin. July 2005

This is right outside of a zoo in Texas Thanksgiving weekend 2005.

Daddy/Uncle Bobby makes a good horsey. October 2006

Silly cousins, waiting to get pictures taken. July 2005

Crud

Over Thanksgiving I had some major crud. According to my very understanding Dr I had a virus. Pretty much she told me to go home and take some Tylenol and I would be fine. By the time we got home from Texas I could not even swallow because my throat hurt so bad. This Dr would not test me for strep or anything. She didn't even look in my throat. Since I had been to the Dr before leaving for Texas I decided to go to the Minute Clinic at CVS to see what they could do. They got me in in a timely fashion, the nurse practitioner did a full work up for strep and mono. She ended up giving me a prescription for lidocane to squirt in my throat. Once that was done my sore throat cleared up within the next 2 days.

The Dr's office has a little notice up in the room that talks about rising costs due to minute clinics and patients not doing what they are supposed to. Well, when I have to wait up to and hour and a half to get in to see the Dr (who has no bedside manner) in a practice that has at least 6 Dr's, to be told you have a cold go take some sudafed, you can bet I am going to go to the Minute Clinic.

All that to say I have some kind of crud again so I will be heading to the Minute Clinic tomorrow when it opens.

Dam update

Just wanted to make sure you knew the meeting for the 12th was changed.

Meetings in which flood maps for Sumner County will be shown are scheduled as follows:

6:30 p.m., Feb. 12, First Baptist Church of Hendersonville
6:30 p.m., Feb. 15, Gallatin City Hall, 132 W. Main St.

For more information, contact the Public Affairs Office, Nashville District, Corps of Engineers, at 615-736-7161, or, call the county emergency management agency in your area.

My scrap weekend

So, it has been a couple of weeks since I went on my scrap weekend. Here are a few of the layouts I did while I was there:

Red Robin

A few weeks ago Munchkins wanted to go to the Jackson's house to play for the afternoon. After swim we parted ways so I could go clean my house and Angela could deal with the drama of 2 little princesses. After a fun day playing together instead of going to pick Munchkin up the Jackson's brought her to us. We all decided to go to Red Robin since that is a favorite restaurant of ours and they had never been there before. Poor little Munchkin had to go potty on the way and they got the full screaming wrath of "I have to go NOOWWWWWW!!!!" After swinging by Wendy's for Munchkin they made it safe and sound. Red was there and Munchkin was all about giving him a hug. Neither one of the boys wanted anything to do with him but I was able to get a picture of Munchkin and her friend with him. Ron and Angela were impressed...well at least I think they were :) . All the kids got balloons to take home with them and of course the girls cried when they parted ways. It was of course only going to be 3 days until they saw each other again!
Another week after swim we went over to the Jackson's house to play after swim. The girls got dressed up like ballerinas and wanted to watch the 12 Dancing Princesses. The boys just ran around like crazies. They all played nicely though and Angela and I got to hang out and chat for the afternoon.

Fundom Kids

Some friends and I went to a place called Fundom Kids the other day. It is an old roller rink that is now set up in stations for kids to play at. A big favorite was the little kitchen and the realistic pan pizza (pea-yas). Another fun thing..stacking blocks and kicking them down. We moms liked Pedal Town. All of the kiddos got their own car and drove like crazy little teenagers. They were not supposed to go on the big pedal cars but that didn't stop Sara from taking her sweet girl for a spin.
If you live in the area this is a great place for a cold day. 2 hours went by really fast for all of us!