Brandon and Emily went in for their 6 month dental check up and all was good! Now if I can just get Emily to let me pull the tooth that has been barely hanging on all week..... And don't even get me started on her keeping the teeth. She insists on writing notes to the tooth fairy asking her nicely to leave the money without taking her precious teeth.

Even though I haven't really mentioned here lately, we have indeed started our "school" year. Brandon has some really great curriculum and I have high hopes for this his seventh grade year. However, he personally is most excited about our newest extra-curricular activity we added this year. We joined the All American 4-H group and he is doing Rifle and Archery. He is doing so/so in rifle and I think it has dampened his enthusiasm a bit. He doesn't like the prone position they make you start out in and he can't move up to standing until he conqures prone. I think with more practice at home and better scores, his interest will rise back up for rifle. Now, on the other hand Archery he loves! So much so, that we went ahead and made the investment in buying him his own bow. Yes, he is a very proud boy! He even gracefully accepted that this meant he would not get much for Christmas.

Things can get pretty irritating around here. By that I mean why in the h-e-l-l-o do these two kids have to fuss and fight and pick and whine 24/7!?? What happened to that extra special super close bond they were supposed to build being at home together and homeschooling? Yesterday they were right in normal form until when about 1/2 way through the day I decided I had had enough.

Let me set up the scene: I was busy (ok preoccupied....ok obsessed with fixing my blog's template) and asked Brandon to help his sister with her school work. Now I know she can be let's say.....a brat... at times especially to her big brother but he in turn has developed this habit of growling at her. He just talks so roughly and snaps at her it seems constantly. As I sat in my room I kept hearing this over and over and finally I had had enough. So, I called him into my room and asked him to find the paddle. (It seems I spank my children so often that the thing can turn up missing for weeks without anyone knowing it was gone.) While he was looking for the paddle, because it was indeed no where to be seen, he would pass his sister and growl at her for getting him in trouble. See... they thought he was in trouble for not helping her to do her work not realizing that it was his attitude that had sent me over the edge.

So, here he is all mad stomping around the house looking for the object of his impending doom when Emily came into my room. She had her serious face on and I could tell she meant business. She walked right up to me and took my hand in both of hers so as to have my full attention. She looks me straight in the eye and says in a tiny little voice,

Emily: "Mommy, you shouldn't spank Bubba because it's not his fault."
Mom: "It's not. Well, then who's fault is it?"
Emily: "It's mine. He tried to help me do my work but I told him to leave me alone."
Mom: "So, he shouldn't get a spanking?"
Emily: "No. "
Mom: "Well, who do you think should get the spanking?"
Emily: "I should."
Mom: "You think you should get a spanking instead of Bubba?"
Emily: "Yes Ma'am , It's all my fault. Don't spank him. Spank me."

Now, at this point her bottom lip is sticking out a tad and trembling, her eyes are red, silent tears are trickling down her face. Sweet wispy strands of hair have worked loose from her braid and are sticking to her wet face. Her tiny little nose is kindda swished up. She is SO sincere. She is breaking my heart! About this time Brandon came into the room looking suspicious. I could read his mind, "What's this monster done gone and done to me now." So, I called him over, put my hand under her shaking little chin to tilt her head up to his face. I asked him to look at her in the eye. As he did I saw his countenance visibly soften. Then I dropped the bombshell.

Mom: "Brandon you see this little face, this little face that you have snapped at and growled at all day long?"
Brandon: "Yes, Ma'am." said a little humbly.
Mom: "This little face just asked to take your spanking in your place. She said it was her fault and not yours."

Brandon's eyes tear up a little, his hard shell is dropped. He is broken.

Mom: "Now, is this is the same person you yell and growl at. Do you think now may be you can see what I'm saying and quit being so dog gone mean to her? She loves you."
Brandon: "Well, I love her too."

Emily throws herself at her Bubba and they hug and kiss and declare they love each other....... but as they leave the room I hear her pipe up in that dramatic gasp-y voice she uses sometimes,

"You should be grateful! I just saved your life!"

Hmm....I had a really cool template loaded but it needed tweaking....reverted back to old template to work over the new one and now I can't get the cool one back......This stinks.

Edited to add I got the cool template back, but it still needs tweaking.

Oh signs have been coming in for a while now. I had to break down and buy Proactive. He had to start using deodorant and Axe body spray. A faint mustache is forming on his upper lip. He began to like a girl. He now cares if his clothes match... Yes, it has happened, my boy has become a teen. September 14th he turned 13 years old. Ah, the big one three. I had originally planed to have one big bash to celebrate his birthday with style and then move on. You know what they say about the best laid plans, right? This was the birthday that wouldn't die.

First, his Me maw set us up at a Log Cabin style resort for the first week of September. Yep, just one week of the school year in and we took a week off. Regrettably I forgot the camera. It was a nice cabin, fully furnished, dishes, towels, etc. It had a bed room downstairs, 2 beds up stairs and a pull out couch. We had some friends come hang out with us. The kids spent most of the day walking the trails. It was an enjoyable week. BUT I had to come home on Friday to prepare for Emily's party the next day. Then Brandon's was to be the next Saturday.

As I said Brandon's party WAS to be the next Saturday. However, Hurricane Ike had different plans. I doubted seriously that anyone would want to attend a Luau in a hurricane. So, I canceled his party. On the 14th we did take him to pick out his MP3 player. He got a Creative Zen. It was second to the ipod nano and so far we really like it.

My Mom also came over with her presents. Lots of clothes! Yeah! I'm so grateful my children are finally at an age that they like to receive clothes for presents!

His party was tentatively rescheduled for this last Saturday but we all fell ill. Especially Cecil. Brandon had a hacking cough. I just couldn't see it making any sense to have people come to our home just to get sick. So, I canceled again. Then Friday a trip to the doctor's office said we weren't contagious just having severe allergies. *sigh WHATever!......after two days of med's we all felt fine so I went ahead and invited a few of his friends over just so he could at least have his cake!

While we were out Daddy and Emily decorated the house, baked his cake and started supper. When we got home supper was ready. We all ate, then had cake and ice cream. We got him a new game for his Wii (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed). His friends got him a Beatles t-shirt. (He has since had me download a ton of Beatles songs onto his MP3 player because he didn't really "get" who they were. Now he likes his shirt even better.)After cake and ice cream came the silly string war, the sack race and balloon race. I think his birthday is finally over.....

Some of you may vaguely remember that I went to my nephews wedding way back in March and said I'd blog more about it later. Yes, I've admit I've put it off, not because I didn't want to write about it but because I wanted it to be special. I wrote this blog several times mentally and with a little reminder from Heather I finally decided to put fingers to keyboard. Forgive me this post will not contain wedding pictures or descriptions of the cake and bride's maids dresses. This is about the boy that became a man and got married.

See Patrick is not just a nephew to me. He was born when I was just a preteen and Norma and Clayton lived with us when he was little. He was my first baby boy. My first slobbery baby kiss all over my face, my first chubby arms wrapped around my neck, my first mischievous giggle, my first "do it again" and my first realization that I wanted nothing more than to be a mother when I grew up.

Patrick had HUGE brown eyes, blond hair with big loose curls when allowed to grow out, big dimples, his diaper always seemed to sag even if it wasn't dirty, he loved to play with toilet paper, he spent an enormous amount of time hanging off me (my hip, my back, my head, etc.), his favorites toys were his teenage ninja turtles and his toy guitar, he loved the Girls, Girls, Girls Motley Crue video and could bang his head at the age of three, he laughed all the time and I don't remember him ever throwing fits, he was sweet, kind, gentle, obedient, had a strong sense of justice, and most of all affectionate. When that child looked you in the eyes and said, "I love you" he said it with an innocent honesty that came straight from his heart. If he had faults I'm sure they were admirable but I don't remember any. He was a perfect little boy and I fell in love the first time I set eyes on him.

Patrick has grown into a fine young man. He has grown up and out, his hair has darken, he stills gets frustrated with injustice, he is a teddy bear that still loves with all his heart and I can still see my first baby boy when I look at him.

I too have grown up and I've had a little baby boy of my own. Over the years I've often seen his cousin in him and have enjoyed the reminder of the first. My little boy is twelve now handsome, kind and loving like his cousin. At Patrick's wedding I couldn't help but swell with pride and my two boys. One is a man and one is on his way. Thank you God for blessing me with my two little baby boys.

And for those of you dying to see actual wedding photos
here is a link to an album.

Patrick's Wedding

I woke up around 4 AM to potty. I stayed awake because my sinus's woke up and I laid in bed blowing my nose and sneezing until almost 5 AM. Seeing I was not going to return to slumber and that I was depriving my dh of his last precious moments of sleep before he had to get up and off to work I decided to go ahead and get up.

Now getting up early is a rarity for me. I prefer to rise around 9 or 10-ish. However, when I do get up early it is because I'm restless so I normally get straight on the house work. So, I put on the coffee and decided to make biscuits, bacon and eggs. As I fussed about the kitchen...my granny's kitchen...the kitchen I've spent hours watching her work in I couldn't help but to think of her. So I started making a mental list of what I remember best about Granny.

She was always up before dawn, worked until lunch, napped during the mid-day heat, then cooked supper and was in bed by no later than 9 pm.


If you slept past 8 am she would wake you up and ask if you were going to sleep all day.


She made everything from scratch.


She wore aprons when cooking and/or cleaning.


For at least 10 years every week she saved the cartoons from her newspaper and put them away for when my cousin visited because he once said he liked to read them.


She sewed her own clothes.


Her home was a smorgasbord of yarn colors (mostly burnt orange, mustard yellow, and olive green. YUCK! LOL) bought from garage sales. She crocheted dolls dresses, arm chair covers, rugs, dish towels, throws, afghans, you name it and she could crochet it.


She once made me a quilt from scrap fabrics and I recognized several patterns as being from pairs of my grandpas old boxers.


She used to make me lay on the counter once a week so she could wash my hair in the kitchen sink because she didn't believe I washed it when I bathed.


She had her own green house and could grow anything. And knew the name of any plant you could point at.


She could also can, or make preserves or jam of anything.


She once sewed me a little ruffly top with a matching pair of bloomers from a pink fabric with little strawberries on it. I ruined it the first time I wore it by sitting in the middle of her strawberry patch and eating all her strawberries staining it with the juice and she didn't even get mad.


She spanked with a fly swatter but was known to hit with whatever was handy be it a flip flop or her cane.


She once beat my ex-husband about the head and shoulders with her cane and the last time I saw him he was still afraid of her.


She called any woman that paid too much attention to my grandpa a "Hussy".


She once tried to shoot grandpa for talkin' to a "hussy".


She believed wrestling was real.


She always shared her ice cream with her dogs.


Her dogs were always over weight.


The oldest girl of 12 children she quit school after 3rd grade to help her mom with her siblings.


She wrote every thing the way it sounded to her so that her letters were like deciphering code. This also meant that for years she wrote my maiden name as Wallass which always made me laugh.


Despite her lack of education she managed all the house hold bills, ran her home like a drill Sargent and read her KJV front to back several times in her life time.


When company left she would strip the guest bed, wash it's linens and remake it. Then when she knew company was coming she would strip the guest bed, wash it's linens and remake it. I never could figure out how it got dirty in between guests.


She had Osteoporosis, Parkinson's, Rheumatoid Arthritis and eventually had both knees replaced but never stopped working in the yard or home.


She used to pretend that hugs and kisses frustrated her and she'd shoo you away but couldn't quite pull it off because she'd always giggle.


She had 2 miscarriages and out lived all but 3 siblings. She outlived her first husband (my mother's father), but God spared her when at the age of 80 she died in a car accident just months before her second husband lost his battle with cancer.


When I picture her I either picture her working in the yard in the morning or sitting in her chair crocheting at night.


My Granny was a true Southern woman cut from a special clothe. I just wonder as her generation with it's talents and skills die out...will people in the age of computers and cell phones ever realize what they've lost?

When I posted my last blog I thought it'd probably be a while before I blog again I might as well give them a peek as to why I'm not around! Sure enough I haven't blogged. However, I truly do have a ton to blog about. I guess that happens when you go a whole month with out a peep. Just give me a moment or to organize my thoughts and I promise I'll catch ya up to all we've been up to. Let's just address them in order.

Beth Moore Bible Study:
This is wonderful! But then again it is BETH MOORE for crying out loud! So, that is really a given.


WLBC Food Bank:
Brandon is still doing this the first Wednesday of every month, but will miss the next two due to soccer.


Patrick’s Wedding
We actually stretched this trip and stayed a lot longer than we originally planed. This will get it's own post with pictures and all.


Pick up Josh:
Josh actually drove up by himself and spent a few days with us. It was nice to have him around.

Dentist Appts.:
Brandon: 1 filling
Emily: 2 crowns where she already had fillings that just weren't cutting it.

EASTER PICNIC
Easter was wonderful. We did the homeschool group picnic. Then the family egg hunt on Sunday. As it was time for our family egg hunt children from the neighborhood mysteriously appeared in our yard. So, we had quite the gathering for it too! LOL

I had the family wear blue this year for Easter Sunday but alas didn't get that elusive family photo. Here is a picture of Emily and Brandon:



MONTHLY FIELD TRIP
Where: ---- Zoo
This was a nice outing. Great spring day for it. I forgot my camera but if you've seen one giraffe you've seen them all, right?

ACTS SPRING SOCCER
What can I say? As much as I hate physical exertion I might become a soccer mom yet! Soccer Wednesdays are my children's favorite day of the week. Not only do they get to go to soccer but I count it as our free day. I know we won't get any school work done on Wednesday so it is open house day. This is the day they are allowed to invite their homeschool friends over to play. We go to soccer, come home and picnic with friends, and the last one usually leaves around 6 PM.

Other random thoughts.....

In all we had a two week spring break and I've been trying to play catch up ever since. This week in particular I've knuckled down. I see summer around the corner and we are no where near wrapping up our school year.

We got a new puppy Dobie.


I've planted some flower beds around my gazebo and of course it then snowed. Snow in East Texas? I'm pretty sure this was all about me and my tulips.

























Finally Spring has sprung and the yard is looking pretty.







And last but certainly not least I just have to tell ya'll about the new lawn mowing service I've hired. These gals really love their work! They don't want any pay and are absolutely meticulous that they get every little blade of grass. The one draw back is that due to their size and dedication to detail they are rather slow.

To those of you that have already seen this picture, it's cute. Surely you can stand seeing it one more time!

OH the Randomness. I have so much more randomness I could share but I need to get to bed because tomorrow is SOCCER! I'll post some soccer pictures tomorrow after the game. See you then!

I've been thinking about kindness a lot lately. In the handful of different types of leadership positions I've been in I've come into many situations where I was just shocked that people think it is OK to talk to or treat other people the way they do. However, not being mean is not enough (though it certainly helps). Being kind is more than that. It is taking a moment to think about someone else. Have you ever watched someone after they are tossed a smile or compliment? They light up, if you are blessed you may even get to watch them passed the infectious joy on to someone else. Along this same line I recently read the short devotional Give Life With Your Words by Jon Walker. I love his devotionals because they are short, to the point and nearly every single one of them cause me to think and self evaluate.

This particular devotional brought to mind a lady from my church, let's just call her Mrs. V. Mrs. V lights up a room when she enters it. Sometimes I could just swear that she honestly is emitting a soft glow! This is clearly the Holy Spirit just shining in her. If I was going to pattern myself to be like any living woman I would want to be like Mrs. V. I'm careful not to put her up on too high of a pedestal but I do admire and love her dearly.

Besides singing her praises I bring up Mrs. V because of this funny habit she has of gushing over people and complimenting them. She can think of something kind to say about anyone! I've come to think that she can't control herself, that kindness just gushes out of her without her control. For instance once she came knocking on my door unexpected on one of those days when the house is a mess and you haven't bothered to bathe or get out of your PJ's. Picture greasy hair, stained t-shirt with holes in it, and baggy boxer style sleeping shorts.... I kid you not when I opened the door the woman's face lit up, she smiled, hugged me then looked me up and down and declared, "I love your slippers!" Needless to say, I've come to take her compliments with a grain of salt.

I am a cynical type of person. I don't take compliments well...to be honest I usually feel like your pulling my leg. However, I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if you believe it is sincere, it stills feels good when someone takes that tiny little effort to make you feel special. Which brought me to the realization that just as I'm not good at taking compliments I'm not good at giving them either. Even though I'm generally a loving person I can be thoughtless. I simply don't think. I may think you look nice today but never think to voice it. I may be impressed with your skills but never think to say it. I get caught up in my own life and forget what a long way a smile could go to someone feeling out of place. I feel the strain of the responsibility of my children's education to the point that while pointing out their errors I sometimes forget to praise their achievements. Children don't understand your worried that you are failing them, they only know that you are telling them they are wrong. Do you remember to praise them when they are right? Ouch. I don't always remember that.

While feeling the conviction from the devotional I read it dawned on me that sometimes when I remember to praise my son for good work soon afterwards he'll spontaneously bounce on me with a hug and declare, "I love you, Mom!" All from just a little scrap of attention from me. At first I didn't know whether to feel bad that he seems that so desperate for my approval or to use it as an example of how easy it is to give joy to others and how wonderful the rewards can be from doing so. I've decided to apply it both ways. That "Wow that looks great Brandon!" takes so little effort and his undying affection means the world to me.

On the flip side sometimes it is more than being thoughtless or forgetting to pass out well deserved praises. Sometimes people are just flat out cruel to each other. Words are painful weapons that can cut and scar a soul. Obviously, I can't do anything about people being cruel and thoughtless in their actions to one another. It is particularly painful at times to watch Christians do this to each other or run people away from God's house with their judgmental attitudes and tearing people down. I can't control others actions, but I can be more aware of my own. I can remember to encourage a sister who is stumbling, accept people where they are for who they are, build up others that feel torn down, criticize less, forgive with all my heart, smile more, laugh louder, share my joy, have more empathy, chose my words carefully when tempted to be unkind and most of all love my fellow man because God loves them and He would have me love them also. It just takes a moment to think of others and that moment could carry someone through a whole day.

My friend Lady Hawk has given me and Award! I'm very touched. I enjoy blogging, although I admit to sometimes feeling a little "less than" when I read some of my friends' informative and entertaining blogs. So, I am just happy someone enjoys the way I share a little bit of me through my humble blog.




By accepting this Excellent Blog Award, you have to award it to at least 10 more people whose blogs you find Excellent Award worthy. Thank you out there for having such great blogs and being such great friends! You deserve this! Feel free to award people who have already been awarded…

Let's there are a lot of great blogs out there. Here a few of my favorites in no particular order.


Just Call Me Jamin!
Our Homeschool and Other Such Happenings
Big Momma
2nd Cup of Coffee
A Family Runs Through It
Because I Said So
This Ain't New York
Rocks In My Dryer
Simply A Musing Blog
Shoe Princess
A Happy Life

And here I was worried I wouldn't be able to come up with 10! Now, other than posting this, how do I pass this on? Garsh, I guess I have got to go and tell all these folks how great I think their blogs are, huh? Let's see it only took say... 10 days to get around to acknowledging I had been given an award....so... if I take ten days per person to let them know they've won the award... I should be through by mid to late May?

Then again you didn't know I was gone did you?

My run of the mill blah home-school/housewife life, that makes my friends and family, that are not homeschooling housewives, bored to tears when I start talking has been pretty busy lately.

First, I decided to merge my homeschooling online support forum with another area homeschooling group that has more events than my group tended to plan. This has been awesome because if I may say so myself my forum is W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L. What a blessing to get to share it with more people! The ladies there are truly quality people, each one is completely different from the other. So, when you go there with a problem you can get advice from so many unique perspectives! Plus, they make you laugh. Laughter IS the best medicine when you are sitting hip deep in laundry, your son has wandered away from his math work to play video games and your six year has climbed the fridge and eating a giant chocolate bar for breakfast.... Just kidding my house never looks like that! LOL (if your not looking)So, in combination of what I have been advertising as an unparalleled support forum we now have another leader who can juggle events schedules like you wouldn't believe! May I take a moment to be as humble to say that I think the marriage of our two groups could just possibly be the perfect home-school family group ever? Long story short, it is great but the actual merge process was a bit more work (pleasant work, no complaining) than I took a moment to think about. So, I've been juggling that while trying my darnedest to keep the house looking like a home instead of a zoo (which I'm told by many is a useless cause with all our animals)and at the same time attempting to actually educate my children. Can I do it? Yes, many families are juggling way more than that. I've just never been that entertaining of a juggler. Which is why I'm so totally syked about having someone to do the schedule juggling for me now!

Then just about the time I thought I had a handle on the merge and was ready to really throw the books at the kids (not literally, well may be...) my oldest daughter called on her way to the ER. Turns out she has a very painful fairly large ovarian cyst that they seriously thought about removing by surgery. So, off to Sugar Land we go. We got there Tuesday, Cec came home on Wednesday, the kids and I stayed, Heather came home on Wednesday night, and we stayed to take care of her while Aaron worked. There really wasn't anything I could do for her but keep track of when she could take her meds and fetch her drinks. Once her husband came home there was a flurry of requests for his care (much more desired than MY care apparently, LOL), meds, drinks, food, running of bathwater, rubbing her back, aid in walking, etc.... Young married couples are so cute to watch. Cecil came back to Sugar Land on Saturday and we all spent one more night. We came home last night.

This week I'd like to say we are finally really going to hit the books....however, tomorrow is our first group meeting as a newly improved merged home-school group and I promised I'd be there to explain what I offer through my forum and how to use it for those not very computer savvy. (Thursday our group is going to a nursing home to pass out V-day cards, but I doubt we make that.) Then Friday is our bowling alley Valentines party. Saturday is American Girl Book Club at the library, and Sunday is church then a birthday party. To top it all off after we got home last night Emily was complaining her neck hurt (pointing to her throat) and she was running a low grade temp. Did I mention that roughly half the people I know have had Pneumonia or the Flu (some have had both) within the last two months or so?

There is roughly the last two weeks in review of my hum drum boring home-schooling housewife life.

PS I almost forgot to mention that some time before the trip to Houston and after the merge that I spent a day ripping out a wall in the tub, removed the old faucet system, installed a new faucet system, re-sheet rocked the hole and reinstall the plastic bath tub liner?

You know nothing is too big or too small in the life of a housewife.

Must be that time of year. My great cut has all grown out (and looking BAD) and I've noticed serveral others in blog land are also seeking their next great hairstyle. I've been looking around online for the last few days for my new dream hair do. I need a hairstyle with the ease that a boring housewife needs that distinctly does not look like a boring housewife-do. These all look very simular to my last do but I did really like it. The only problem I really had with it is you need to go back and have it maintenanced and I usually only make it to a salon once may twice a year......Oh, well it never hurts to dream.

 

OK so I got this speeding ticket and it really gets under my skin. First of all, I admit that sometimes I speed on purpose being a chronically late individual. If you are speeding "on purpose" then you have made a conscious decision to take the risks involved. However, this particular time I really didn't even realize I was speeding. I don't know why that makes a difference to me...but some how it does...

Second of all, speeding is breaking the law. I've taught my children that breaking the law is the equivalent of sinning. You obey God's law, you obey your country's law (unless it breaks God's law). So here are my sweet children sitting in the car terrified because Mommy has broken the law all the way around! LOL Poor warped little guys! Actually only my more Dudley Do-Right son was too terribly upset. Emily was pretty excited that the trooper smiled and waved at her.

Third and the thing that really sticks in my craw, getting a ticket is a truly STUPID way to throw money away. Tickets are expensive and run your insurance up. I mean I'm one of those folks who needs a tangible object to show for my money. That money could have bought any number of solid real touchable items with long term benefit items!!!! I could really rant about this. But... I guess what's done is done. I can kiss what ever nice tangible object that could of been good bye and pay my ticket.

One thing the ticket did buy is a paranoid about her speed driver. I mean I just can't just go around throwing money out the window like that! So, the next time your driving down one of those rural country roads in Texas where every one but every one always drives 5 to 10 over the speed limit (and we all know there really are stretches of road like that)and you get stuck behind some idiot going EXACTLY the speed limit...that'll be me. Please just do me a favor and extend ALL of your fingers upward when you pass me and wave .... and have pity on a greedy woman that wants "things" for her husband's hard earned cash!

Forget Miss Victoria and her secrets! Keep the Plastic Surgeons away from me! I don't need you and your shape shifting ways because I have a 6 year old daughter! If you are wondering what miracle I've discovered that actually makes giving birth give you a better figure let me clarify with the following.

I believe in attachment parenting. I didn't know what I was doing had a fancy name until long after I was already doing it but sure felt smart when I realized what I was doing had a nifty title! Any way this basically means my kids are always up my hinney.;-)

I truly eat, sleep, and bathe with my daughter. (BTW I did stop bathing with my son at a much much younger age.) Obviously there are certain things that children are bound to notice sooner or later when you bathe with them. Sooo, when my dd starting noticing my breast I was very honest with her. I calmly explained they are called breast (not boobies or anything else) and that God designed them to feed babies. Needless to say the idea of mom carrying milk around on her body and babies actually being able to eat there A-M-A-Z-E-D her! We had lengthy conversations about how God created a lot of animals that feed their babies the same way, how no milk is there when there is not a baby to drink it, etc. So, FINALLY I think her curiosity has been fed and she'll move on when this happens:

We are in the bath the other day and my dd looks up and says, "Mommy I think you have milk in there." (Pointing at my breast) So, thinking... oh, great here we go again I tell her, "No, Emily. Mommy doesn't have a baby to feed. So there is no milk in there." Here is the part that is bound to make any woman feel better about her body.... "Well if they don't have any milk, how come their hanging down like that?"..trying not to let my pride get the best of me I replied, "Emily they just grow like that." So, my sweet precious daughter who has always but always been Momma's little helper says to me, "OH here Momma, I'll help!" and reaches up to push both my breast up into a... let's say... slightly higher position on my body! She then looks down at my tummy and proceeds to use one hand to push my gut in!!!!!! Then she looks at me and says, "Sorry Mommy I don't have enough hands!" OH MY LORD IN HEAVEN TAKE ME NOW!!!!! I didn't know whether to die or die laughing!!!

On top of this story this same wonderful child didn't like the realistic mii character I had made for myself on the wii. So, she made a new character for me that we all now affectionally call Skinny Mom that is simply beautiful. I'm not sure if this how she truly sees me or if that is just what she wishes I look like, but just for pride's sake I'm sticking with the former.

Oh Ok I've already typed one very grumpy, cranky, people shouldn't even have to read it blog today elsewhere. So, I'll try my best to spare you. In fact I'll try to post the positive side of things here.

1. Although I can't find homes for the puppies we rescued and I spend a great deal of time trying to keep my floors sanitary. They are healthy, growing and cute.

2. Although I was late to the fall festival due to many many things going wrong at the last minute. Due to the fact that I was late my booth was given over to a youth member to run leaving me free to enjoy the festival with my family. Cecil was late but did make it in time to eat with us and play some games. The festival was even bigger than last year and had a great turn out of non church members which is our goal. It truly was a wonderful community family friendly event! Kudos to the awesome woman who organized this!

3. Although I've had/have a lot of issues with my neighbors...the list of their deeds would make the average neighbor shudder... (I am really praying for strength to continue to stay on friendly terms for witnessing and ministry's sake.) However, last night really took the cake. I took their daughter to the fall fest with me because they were taking their son with some friends to a haunted house several towns away. I knew they would be late which was really fine. If they were too late I'd just let her stay the night and send her home in the morning in time to get dressed for school. But around 11 PM we got a call that they and their friend had been arrest for PI and DWI. Could I come pick their son up? Well yeah! It was more like how fast could I get there! No kid should have to be sitting at a jail while their parents are sitting in the drunk tank. So I went to get him. We didn't home until around 2 AM. The bright side of this? He was ok. He was alive. They didn't wreck. And someone cared enough to come get him. Hopefully what I did will have more of an impact than what his parents did.

4. Cecil has been promoted. He has done this job before with no pay increase and been demoted due to lack of a college degree. When offered the position again a couple of times before he has been leary. However, we talked and prayed about it when it was offered again. This time it does come with a pay raise and bonus package. He has also been promised a lightening of his work load so he can once again join us in a family life. I pray this was the right decision. It sure sounds like a good thing. I guess time will tell.

5. Lately with just life stuff I'm feeling a strong need of the Lord for strength and guidance which no matter how that may sound is actually a good thing.