Perspective

There are days when I think to myself that things are just not going right for us. Money is tight, the cars are breaking down, the kids keep getting funky rashes.
It should not take a best friend losing a family member or my experience at Walmart tonight to slap me in the face. We are blessed.

I ran to walmart tonight to pick up garlic bread, milk and a rotisserie chicken. I had no idea I would hug a stranger. Little Man was zonked out in the cart, Munchkin was running into the dairy section when a sweet elderly lady stopped me. She told me my kids were so sweet, she didn't have any grandchildren and always noticed the little ones. Then she asked where I lived and told me where she lives and then started to tear up. He husband passed away 2 months ago and it was her first trip to the store by herself. Her cart was full of food and essentials like toilet paper and paper towels. I asked if I could hug her and she let me and she held on.

I don't know what that sweet lady's name was but please be praying for her. Her heart must hurt so much right now and I am hurting for her. I pray she has people in her life that will hold her and visit her and pray for her.

All that to say, it doesn't matter that money is tight, that our car is messed up, that my kids have funky rashes. We have each other and we are blessed.

Not Happy

My check engine light came on this weekend. I need a new catalytic converter. I already knew I needed a new transmission. So, that bring the total for our 11 year old Honda to $4300. Yeah.....Anyone have an extra $4300 laying around?

Delicious Breakfast

I posted a few days ago about the apple puff pancakes I made for the kids. They both liked them but Munchkin asked if I would make them without apples the next time. I got the recipe here and used the original recipe this morning. I also made them in muffin tins like she suggests. Of course most of my tins are packed in storage right now while we sell our house. So, I only made 12 in my jumbo muffin tins.

They were a hit! Munchkin and Little Man each ate 3. They were so excited to decorate them by themselves. I put out peanut butter, butter, syrup, powdered sugar, raspberries, blueberries and bananas. Munchkin went for raspberries, blueberries, syrup and powdered sugar. Little Man had blueberries, syrup and powdered sugar. He was so disappointed when the bowl was empty. I will definitely be making these again!


Of course no breakfast is complete without diet coke!

Baby Bird Update

I am not sure what happened but we had 6 eggs and got 3 baby birds. Yesterday as we opened our front door I saw a bird sitting on the edge of the nest. As we walked toward the plant it is in that bird flew away. We looked and saw that was our first baby bird flying away!

The other 2 were huddled down in the nest together. I guess we are close to an empty nest.

Blurry

Here is a lovely blurry picture of the bat building from the Adventure Science Center. Anyone think I need a tripod? Holding the camera at arms length doesn't seem to be doing the trick.

Spiritual issues

Last night when the kids were getting ready for bed Munchkin called down to me. All of a sudden she was next to me and in a quiet voice said "Mommy, when I was calling you I was in your room. I heard a woman's voice say "did you mean me?". She then followed it up with "but maybe it was just my imagination...".
Well, that completely freaked me out but I suggested that maybe she heard one of the neighbors outside. She held my hand as we walked back upstairs and I turned on every light along the way.
After saying prayers Bobby and I headed back down stairs and I told him about what happened.

Munchkin has been at VBS this week and has come home every day talking about Jesus. Her heart is soft. I feel like Bobby and I both have good spiritual discernment so we prayed for her especially hard last night. We just pray she hears the right voice. That her heart will be soft for the right one true Savior.

Maybe it was her imagination but I have no idea where she would have picked up something like that.

Awards

Last weekend was Munchkin last T-ball game. At the end we had the little award ceremony for the kids. Out of the 5 T-nini teams 3 got participation trophies and the other 2 got 1st runner up and first. This is Munchkins participation trophy! That thing is huge!


After all the drama of the season we are so glad to be done. Plus, Munchkin has just outgrown her cleats. She started complaining about them right after her last game. Team Mom got everyone together to see if we wanted to play in the tournament this coming Saturday. We were supposed to play but we found out only 2 teams were going to play. Us and Flip Flop lady team. I don't think I have written about that team before. Short but sweet: the kids were nice the coach constantly yelled at our coaches, yelled at the kids and made up new rules every time we played them. We didn't like that coach so no point in playing them on Saturday for a tournament only 2 teams would be playing in anyway. Whew! I did not want to be at the ball field at 7:30 am anyway.

Aren't all these girls cute with their trophies!
This one was actually right at the beginning. Munchkin was the first one to get called up to get her award and high five all the coaches.
Afterward Little Man was all about hanging onto the trophy. Apparently he thought it was his for playing in the dirt all season. I think he was proud of his big sissy too though.
After a break we will let Munchkin decide if she wants to play again or not. Maybe we will try soccer or dance in the fall.

Unlucky/Lucky

Today has been a really long day. It all started with getting the kids to VBS a little bit late. That was actually a blessing in disguise. Little Man has a hard time with transition and also with crazy loud crowds. Yesterday when I was dropping him off he had a really hard time because there was just chaos. I suppose it was kind of controlled but it did not make him happy. This morning, on the other hand, everyone was quiet as the morning video had already started when we got in the auditorium. He went right to his teacher and had a fantastic day.

While the kids were at VBS I went for a walk with my friend Trina. Her little girl is in VBS also so we both have several hours to do what we want. She convinced me to walk 6 miles with her. I think I may not be able to get out of bed in the morning. While we were walking she and I both stuck our cell phones in the top of our sports bras....(sorry guys but it is way more convenient than carrying it). Unfortunately the undergarments that are supposed to wick away moisture wicked all the moisture right into my Pink Motorola Razr. It no longer works...at all. So, after walking 6 miles and picking up the kids I headed for the Verizon store. The guy there was very helpful and mentioned if I had an old phone he could reactivate it for me for the time being. I happened to have my old flip phone in the glove box and ran out to get it. I think the problem I had with the old phone was that it would not hold a charge. That is ok though, as long as I can still call people I am good to go.

After that brief stop we went down to our drummers apartment so the kids could swim. Much fun was had by all...except Little Man. Am I a horrible mother for trying to make him float with Munchkins pink floaties? He screamed his head off and I stuck him back on the side of the pool. That is where he spent the majority of his afternoon. He had his noodle and was fishing for shoes.

I had just enough time to get home, shower, and head out for Bunco. I won $20! Woohoo! Unfortunately I am exhausted. That is OK though I am about to head for bed. Hopefully I will get a good night sleep so I can do it all over again tomorrow!

Camp Rock

So any of you that have little ones probably have the Disney Channel. If you have it on AT ALL I am sure you have been inundated with commercials for Camp Rock, the new Disney Channel Exclusive Movie. There has been a ticker on the screen counting down the hours and minutes until the show.
We happened to turn the TV on tonight to watch Wheel of Fortune (great for kids learning letters) and saw that it would be on. Since it was rated G and on Disney I decided to let the kids stay up to watch it. Little Man has almost all of the Kung Fu Panda toys from McDs so he played with those most of the time. Munchkin was pretty into it though. Now, I know there are parents out there that think "how could she let her almost 6 year old watch that?" Because it is teenagers at camp for the summer I can kind of see their point. Except that it was totally innocent. No kissing, not real flirting, no bare midriffs. The snooty girl said Shut up a few times and we talked about how mean the snooty girl was and that it is not OK to be mean to people like that.
Also the main girl lied about who her parents were to fit in and we talked about that too.

If you can get past the mediocre acting, the complete lack of trying to match up the lips to the tracks, the fact that the main Jonas brother sings a song to the main girl while playing an acoustic guitar and there are BGVs, that neither of the electric guitars are plugged in and there are no amps in sight when all three Jonas Brothers play, that the girl that sings at the end is very obviously not actually playing the guitar, then it is a pretty OK little movie. If you can't get past all of that you might cringe while watching it.

Anyway, it was fun to watch with my kiddos and I wouldn't turn it off if it came on again.

Like I said...

I am loving Stumbleupon.

I think I am making this for dinner tonight. Delicious!

Well, I thought I was going to make the regular ones, but I made the Apple Puffed Pancakes that were listed in the comments. Both of my kiddos LOVED it! Both went back for seconds so it was definitely a winner. Doesn't it look delish? :)

Here is the recipe:

Apple Puffed Pancake

6 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup flour
3 Tbls sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
1 cube butter
2 apples peeled & sliced
3 Tbls brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425. In a blender or large bowl, mix eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon until well blended. Melt butter in a 9×13” pan in oven, add apple slices to baking dish and return to oven until butter sizzles, do not let it brown. Remove dish from oven and immediately pour batter over apples. Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and brown, Serve immediately.

Stumbleupon

I am sure that Chris, Mike and Bill have probably all mentioned Stumbleupon on their blogs. It took getting an email invite from my friend Joy to actually try it out. I am totally hooked! I have learned about the trash carpet from Greenpeace, found some tempting chocolate recipes, learned how to make a box out of two dollar bills, and found a web site that can make my blog into a book. How cool is that? If you get a chance try it out!!

Crane

In a previous post I mentioned my irrational fear of cranes. Kacey has pointed out a couple of times that maybe it is not so irrational. :)
Last week I came home to this in my driveway:

My neighbors need a new sewer system. To get to the sewer system they needed to have a tree removed. The only way to get to their backyard was in our driveway. Hence, the crane perilously close to my roof.


I left and went to the grocery store.

Happy Fathers Day!

Fathers Day started off at about 6:30 am on Sunday. Munchkin came bounding into our room, jumping on our bed practically shouting her good wishes to her daddy. I think he was a little surprised (or maybe not) that she had a gift with her. She had told him the day we got his gift that he was not getting a Fathers Day present. Silly girl. She did a good job of keeping the secret though.
We had her go back to sleep and we let Bobby sleep in until...um well about 7:15. He opened his first gift, which was so cleverly wrapped in a backpack, and found a tackle box. Munchkin ran in her room and grabbed the fishing poles that had been purchased and hidden in the attic earlier in the week. There is so much junk up there I knew he wouldn't find them even if he went in the attic! :)

I was pleased to see he was thrilled with his gift. Since we have had children he has talked about taking them fishing. It is a fun outdoor activity we can do as a family and just good quality time.

I do have to say here that Bobby is the best daddy ever to our kiddos. I appreciate him so much and love him even more when I see how wonderful he is with our kids. He teaches them about God, hates to discipline but does it when needed, and never ever considers hanging out with our kids babysitting. :) I love you Bobby!!


Sunday we didn't have much time to spend fishing so tonight we headed over to the marina near our house. We were just getting the worms on the hooks when our neighbor drove up. He was taking his family fishing too! Bobby got the kids set up first and then hooked his worm.



Both Munchkin and Little Man waited patiently for their fishing poles and when they got them they cast like experts into the water. Well, Munchkin had been practicing so hers went pretty far. Bobby had to help Little Man a little bit. On his first cast Little Man lost his speed racer bobber but he caught a fish!! We think it was a blue gill.

Munchkin tried and tried but to no avail. She caught a lot of moss. She was pretty convinced she should try flowers on her hook instead of worms.


Bobby was so patient with both of the kiddos. I was afraid one of them was going to fall in the lake. Who knows how deep it is and what the heck is down there! Yuck!
After trying and trying Bobby finally caught a fish! He let Munchkin help him reel it in so she could be in the picture too. Bobby had a really difficult time getting this one off the hook but he finally removed it and let Munchkin throw it back. She got poked by one of the spines but that did not deter her fun.
She was more worried about the storm we could see coming in. We could see lightening in the clouds but we could not hear any thunder.

We finally got home around 9 tonight. We were all hot and tired but I think everyone had a really good time! I am thankful for a husband that loves me and our kids and wants to be able to spend time with us. He Rocks!

Baby Birds Update

Well, we had six eggs at the beginning. I think one either got taken or fell out because the next time I check there were only 5.



Here is our first little hatchling, letting mama know it is hungry!

A couple of friends

Mama, mama!

The last one finally hatched! This was over about a 4 day period.

This is from today. I think the one in the middle is the same one as the first picture. It seems to be the biggest. I am not sure how many are in there. I only see 3 heads right now but maybe the others are the younger ones and are hiding underneath.

Seriously?

This morning I have been working on painting the basement entryway. My daughter came to the top of the stairs and said "Mommy, why are you painting? It is not Mothers Day, you don't get to do whatever you want!"

Again I say "Seriously?"

i <3 Sand Volleyball!

Tonight we got together with our Life Group and played sand volleyball. It was so much fun!! I was not sure how well I would do as it has been at least 8 years since I have played. I remember playing a lot at church in high school. It seems like the last time I played may have been when I was working on my Masters degree.

Anyway, turns out I remember how to serve pretty well. Bobby and I were on opposite teams and taunted each other a little bit, but not as much as some of the other couples! Now, if I could play volleyball all the time I would love to work out. Maybe I can find some people to play with more often.

Dragon Park

The morning of Little Mans birthday Angela and I decided to take the kids to Bicentennial Mall to play in the fountains. We were then going to head to the farmers market to pick up some fresh fruit and to have lunch.

Well, being us we were foiled at the first turn! The fountains, or something around the fountains, was under construction. That did not deter us. We decided to go to Dragon Park (It is really Fanny Mae Dees Park) and let the kids run wild. We of course had to stop on our way at Gigis to get some delicious cupcakes!


This would be why the park is called Dragon Park. Years ago kids from local elementary schools or the community did all of the mosaic tiles for the dragon. I just read somewhere that at sunset if you stand in the right spot it looks like the dragon is breathing fire...who knows though. :)
There is a little fort at the park with this tube running underneath it. The kids thought that was fun. Even better though was the cool rock wall. Little Man had no interest in climbing it but the Big Kahuna was all about it!

After we were done at the park we returned to the farmers market. I thought about buying some blueberries but the local guy was gone and the rest were from Florida. I did buy 2 mini watermelons that have been quite tasty! Lunch was pretty good. The kids shared a lunch special from Oriental Express and Bobby (who met us for lunch) and I had food from the Gyros stand. Yum! I have been trying to get more good pictures for Capturemusiccity.com and there was green challenge last week. I took a few at the farmers market and the few I submitted got quite a few votes! :)



Do you remember as a kids leaning into the fan and talking and your voice sounding really funny? Well, the kids discovered that at the market. There was a giant fan that I had to tell Little Man several times not to touch. I was afraid he was going to get his fingers whacked off.
Munchkin got to go find a ripe blueberry on a blueberry tree to try. At another stand all of the kids got to try some watermelon. I think that was the selling point for the melon.

These berries are blueberries but not ripe. Perfect for the green challenge! :)
By the time we got home the kids were exhausted. I had them both go to their beds. Munchkin asked if she could read some books and I told her she could. I also told her if she felt tired she could lay her head down for a bit. About five minutes later I came back up to check and both kids were zonked out. 3 Hours later I heard her reading and went back up. She was so funny when she said "I just laid my head down for a minute." I asked her if she thought she just closed her eyes for a minute. When she said yes and I told her she had been asleep for 3 hours she was very surprised.

Both kids loved everything we did that day! I think we will be back for sure!

Chickfila Par-tay

I love that Little Man knew his birthday was on Friday. It was so cool to us that he "got it". He understood that he is now 4 and such a big boy. I asked him several times over the last few months what kind of party he wanted. Often times he would say "Piderman!" Sometimes it would be Pirates or some other random thing he was thinking about. When we went to pick out invitations though Speed Racer won. I am lame and didn't get the invites mailed so I sent an evite instead.

I called Chickfila in Rivergate to ask about parties and was told they don't do parties anymore but we were welcome to come set up a little before and have the party there. At VBS I ran into Linda who is one of the owners and she and Todd hooked us up with some cups that they had left over from the party days. :) Thank you Linda and Todd if you are reading this! When we got there I talked to the manager on duty and he told us to go ahead and set up. He sent one of the girls out to help us and they really took great care of us! I ordered the kids meals about 20 minutes before everyone was supposed to get there and they had them ready as people started to filter in.

After eating the kids all ran off to play and the adults hung out and talked for a few minutes. It wasn't long until everyone was ready for cupcakes, ice cream, and presents. What fun! Little Mans expressions were great and he was so excited to open presents! Thanks again to all of you that were there!
We cleaned up the best we could without a broom. Everyone said good-byes and filtered out. Now, the best part of the party was obviously how excited Little Man was but also the company, how well we were treated, and not having to have it at my house! :) Woo hoo!

Next up: Munchkins party...hm I have no idea what she is going to want to do.