And then I felt older.

My birthday's tomorrow.  The big 3-3.  My mom took me shopping yesterday. Twice, because I didn't find anything the first time around.  She also took me to lunch.  My favorite dish is Italian stuffed shells.  She said she had planned on making them for me and inviting everyone over for dinner, but while we were out she took me out for them instead.  Just the two of us.  She said it would be easier for her and more enjoyable for me.  And she was right.  

On the way home, she mentioned that she hoped her salad from lunch wouldn't hurt her stomach.  I laughed to myself and thought, "I'm glad I'm not old enough to experience things like that."  I haven't dreaded this birthday, or getting older, like I have in the past.  Truthfully, I haven't even really had time to think about my birthday.  It snuck up on me.  

Tonight, my sister and I went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner.  We sat down and tried to talk but the music was loud.  Really, really loud.  So loud that we had to shout and it was starting to give me a  headache.  So I made my sister ask our waitress if we could move to a quieter table.  

Yeah…I didn't feel older until that happened.  

We did move to a different, quieter table in the back of the restaurant and I enjoyed our conversation and my Greek salad with one slice of Kosmic Karma.  

On the way home my stomach started hurting.  Because of the salad, I imagine.  Just like my mom was talking about yesterday.  

Ouch.  And then I felt older.  

Christmas Eve

Tonight's Christmas Eve get together was at my aunt Jenny's house, all the way in Cornelia.  It was a great party, awkward conversations and all.  ;)

  My cousin Shaina had the whole place decorated beautifully, we had tons of food, and of course we played Dirty Santa.  I left the party with the Crock Pot I came with, so it was a good night for me!  I tried to take lots of pictures, but it just didn't work out.  I was too busy eating, talking, and running after Violet.  

In regards to presents, the boys got two things… cash and Duck Dynasty paraphernalia.  Shaun got an actual Duck Commander duck call, along with a Willie beard.  He was thrilled.  Jordan was surprised when he opened the Uncle Si Chia Pet.  My Aunt Jenny really knows what they like!  Violet wasn't really impressed with opening presents, but she received cash and pink Legos.  

We were the first to leave because Violet was so tired. We stayed until after 9 and had a long drive home during which Jordan sang "Jingle Bells", Violet yelled "Hey", and Shaun played along with his duck call.  It was a memorable ride!

Now everyone is asleep, except me.  Presents wrapped, my Aunt Jenny's Christmas dessert left out for Santa.  I'm kinda keyed up.  Going to try to read a little.  I know the boys will be up bright and early in the morning.  

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve's Eve 2013

I love, LOVE December 23.  Christmas Eve's Eve.  It's one of my favorite parts of Christmas.  There's such excitement in the air… it's almost Christmas Eve!  And then Christmas is here!  I love it.  

Because we are both last-minute shoppers, my sister and I have a Christmas Eve's Eve tradition.  We get a late start that evening and finish up our shopping.  I always start out in a great mood, but it fades after a few hours and I get grouchy.  I still love it though!  Last night Lori and I had two tag-alongs.  My two oldest nieces came with us because one of them had been promised a Pillow Pet.  We spent most of the night looking for that Pillow Pet and finally found it at our second Wal-Mart at midnight.  Ha!

We were also looking for Granny's Christmas present.  We heard through the grapevine the she wanted clothes and shoes.  Then the grapevine changed her mind and said that Granny never really said she wanted clothes and shoes.  Lori had the idea to get her an electric mixer.  Granny makes lots of cakes and we couldn't remember her ever using anything except her old fashioned mixer that you turn with a handle.  We needed to make sure that she really didn't have one, so I called and asked what our Christmas dinner assignments were.  Then I nonchalantly asked her if she had an electric mixer because Lori misplaced hers and needed it for Christmas cooking.  It turns out that Granny does have an electric mixer and that my mom gave it to her for Christmas last year.  Ha ha!  Oh, well.  We wound up getting her some things for her little dog, Cocoa.  We think she'll love them!  

It was already Christmas Eve when we finally finished and it definitely shows in the bags under my eyes!  I can't wait til next year!

Flu shot = flu. :(

Unfortunately, this seems to be how we do it around here.  We stopped doing flu shots for ourselves and the kids years ago when Shaun got the flu afterward for the second year in a row.  I think the last time any of us had a flu shot was back when Shaun was in first grade.  Six years ago.  We've all avoided the flu shot and the flu since then.  

This year, though, the kids' doctor talked me into it.  It was a somewhat awkward conversation because we were kind of arguing with each other.  We really love the kids' doctor.  He has a great relationship with us and takes excellent care of our children. I've never had a disagreement with him before.  We went round and round a little bit on the issue of immunizations in general at Violet's 15 month check-up.  I didn't cave that day, but I prayed about it and discussed it with C and some others and finally just decided to make the kids get their flu shots. It was an awful day, let me tell you.  Shaun was a champ, of course.  Jordan was… not.  He actually had to get two flu shots because he jerked the first one out of his arm.  He cried and carried on and our sweet nurse had to call in the same reinforcements who helped her out at Jordan's 7 year checkup this past Spring.  Violet was all keyed up after this, and of course she cried, too.  I was about to cry myself!

That was last Thursday.  This Thursday, one week later, Violet woke up with a fever.  Yep, she has the flu!  Over Violet's wails at his office, the doctor said, "She had her flu shot, right?".  And I just had to say, "Yes… I TOLD you this happens whenever we get the shot!".  And he said, "And I told YOU that it wouldn't necessarily keep her from getting the flu, but that it won't be as severe if she does get it." And then he tried to fix poor Vi's mussed up hair.  That's just the way he is.  :)

But yes, he did tell me this about the shot.  That's why we decided to go ahead with the shot in the first place.  The flu is spreading like wild fire around here.  People are being sick with it for weeks and hospitals are overflowing.  I definitely didn't want that.  So far, the flu hasn't been that terrible for Violet. She started Tamiflu and it seems to be helping. Yesterday was her worst day so far.  Today she seems a lot better.  She and her "bestie" from church are both flu-ing it this week.  :(

I'm praying no one else in the house gets sick. 

Since Thanksgiving

*We had church at Lake Lanier Islands.  The fog was thick but the temperature was great.  Violet cried and fussed the whole time because she had to sit still and the boys sang with their choirs.  It really was lovely.  I hope we're able to continue the tradition.  

A friend of mine took this picture of Pastor Franklin goofing off with the Generation Praise kids.  Jordan's to his right.

*We (finally) got a Christmas tree up.  We were going to go to the tree farm but it was raining on C's day off so we just  bought one at Lowe's.  The boys had it decorated by the time I came home.  Pictures to come.

*Violet ate Desitin and I had to call Poison Control.  No harm done, in case you've ever wondered. 

*The weather's been crazy.  Freezing cold high temps in 30's over Thanksgiving and then balmy highs in the 70's a few days later.  It was so hot last week that we all wore short sleeves to an evening outdoor performance of Shaun's choir.  

This is the only picture I took.  I chased Violet around the square in Dahlonega the entire time.  The fact that she is hardly ever still is supported by this blurry photo.  

*The oldest, the youngest, and I went to dinner after the concert. 

*I decided to be brave and take all three kids to the Christmas parade in Clermont all by myself.  We got all bundled up and found a good spot on the sidewalk close to where the parade was ending…and then  10 minutes later it was over.  Ha!  Such a small parade.  We thought it would kill a lot more time than it did.  

*I went to my niece's horse show without taking any allergy medicine beforehand.  I had a bad attack and had to go to my friend's birthday party with itchy, watery, eyes and sneezing up a storm.  

*The Christmas season is here and along with it comes parties!  We have two this week, one next week, and I think one the week after that.  It's a good thing we love finger foods!

"Just So Thankful"

Jordan and I read Just So Thankful the other day.  I found it at the library and had a rush of memories of when my own mother would read Mercer Mayer to me when I was small.  Our favorite part was finding the little mouse and spider hidden in every picture.  I've read a few of the Little Critter books with my kids over the years and I'm sad that we haven't read more.  I must change that with Violet.  

Anyway.  Just So Thankful.  Little Critter makes a new friend who's rich.  Really rich.  H.H. has all the best toys, a huge house, great food, a maid, rides to school in a limo, you name it.  And of course, Little Critter is jealous.  Oh, so jealous.  In fact, he balks at the idea of inviting H.H. over to his own house because he thinks H.H. will be bored. But, at the gentle nudging of his wise, sweet, mother, he does.  And to Little Critter's surprise, H.H. not only enjoys himself but envies the life that Little Critter takes for granted.  Little Critter has a family that loves him.  He has parents that care.  His house is full of life and he's never lonely.  

And I had to wipe away tears.  

I haven't been doing the Facebook thing where everyone lists what he or she is thankful for every day.  Maybe I should have.  Instead of focusing on being thankful during this Thanksgiving month, I've been fixating on what I don't have. I'm ashamed of myself. 

I have a house overflowing with LIFE!  Laughing children, food in the fridge, good books to read, 2 vehicles to drive, friends who "get" me, a family that cares, a church family who also cares, faith in a God who's always there, and a husband who loves me.  So much, much more than some people have.  

And for all of this and much more, I am Just So Thankful.  

Thanksgiving Blessings to you all!

On biting my tongue.

Over the weekend I had Violet and Jordan in the lovely store The Dollar Tree.  We were killing time before picking Shaun up for a birthday party.  I love The Dollar Tree.  I love that everything's a dollar.  How beautiful is that?  The kids love it, too, because they always get to pick out a treat.  Anything the store, because everything's a dollar! 

I have, however, noticed one flaw at The Dollar Tree.  There are never enough shopping carts.  I don't go in there very often, but the past three times they've been out of buggies and the store isn't even that crowded.  My sister brought up the possibility that maybe the carts get stolen.  I don't know.  All I know is that The Dollar Tree is a bad place for me to have to be without a device to hold my 1 year old down.  

This time, I didn't really mind because we weren't shopping for anything in particular.  I wasn't planning on spending any money aside from the kids' toys.  So I let Violet walk.  She had the best time.  She thought she was so big and she strutted and pranced around the store oohing and ahhhing over everything.  It really was adorable.  And of course, all of the customers in the store thought she was the cutest thing ever and frequently stopped to tell us so.  Except one elderly lady who let me  know that my daughter was too little to be walking around "unsupervised".  I love it when strangers feel the need to express their opinions.  It happens to me a lot… and as someone at church pointed out to me yesterday, the older a person is, the more entitled he or she feels to share an opinion.  

I just bit my tongue.  The old me would have popped off with, "Yes.  She IS really small.  She's five years old.  We just don't like to feed her that much, what with the rising cost of groceries these days."

But, I'm going to be thirty-three next month and it seems that God has finally given me the grace to watch my mouth and stop word vomit from exploding all over the place.  Sometimes.  

Rascal?!?!

My sister and I went running the other night. Well, she ran.  I walked…I've decided that running isn't for me.  Anyway, we went to the track to exercise.  We'd gone around a few times when Lori stopped in her tracks and hissed, "Oh!  Is that a skunk??!!"  

"Where?  Where?!?!" I yelled.

And then I saw an animal rolling around on the grass next to the track.  

I stopped and squinted my eyes, trying to get a closer look.  And then Lori says, "It's Rascal!"

"Where's a rascal?" was my intelligent reply. Followed in my brain by, and what exactly is a rascal, anyway?

Rascal is my sister's cat.  

Somehow, he hitched a ride to the track with us.  This isn't the first time he's done it, either.  A few days ago he went to church with my sister's family.  Ha!  I guess his name is fitting!

We finished up our workouts and Rascal followed us around and had a grand time.  A memorable time, for sure. 

$10.69

I had another one of those "God Moments" a few days ago, where he speaks to me SO clearly.  

I was in "worry mode".  Anyone else ever experience this?  I'm such a worry wart.  Always have been.  I worry about everything.  I'm getting better, but I still have my moments.  

I was driving into town on Friday in a quiet car.  I just had Violet with me and she was fast asleep.  I hardly ever have a quiet car anymore, and I used the time to pray.  I just finally flat out asked God to give me a sign that we(my family)are on the right track and that everything is going to be okay. What I wanted was an audible answer right there in my car.  I wanted God's voice in my ear.  Of course, that didn't happen.  So I went about my business.

My business at that point in time was purchasing a belt for Shaun's chorus outfit.  We had bought everything else the day before…pants, shoes, shirt.  But we forgot the belt.  That morning, as I was searching for something in my wallet, I found an old gift card from Ross. The balance on the card was $10.69.  I was excited because I figured I'd be able to find a belt for just a few dollars more than that.  I found a belt and took it up to the cashier.  She rang it up and the total was $10.69.  She laughed and said something like, "Your card had just enough.  That hardly ever happens."

I just smiled.  

And that my friends, was way better than God's audible voice in my ear.  Just sayin'.  

NGCC

Shaun was in his first performance with NGCC on Saturday.  These kids have been practicing so hard, and we could definitely tell!  They sounded so beautiful.  This "performance" was actually more like a practice run for their first official performance coming up on Friday night.  It was at a Christmas craft festival, so our kids weren't the center of attention and the sound system was less than desired.  It was great anyway, and gave the kids a chance to practice in front of an audience.  

I love this picture of Jordan and Chris getting video footage of the concert.  

And this picture of Violet asleep in my dad's arms.  She loves her Poppa and just started saying his name last week.  She was sound asleep but holding on tight to that necklace. :)

We all had a good time and were in Christmas mode when we left!

Firsts: Thanksgiving and Haircut

The kids and I had a really good day on Friday.  First of all, we had our first Thanksgiving meal of the season.  My friends Kendra and Cindy put together a Thanksgiving lunch for our homeschool group.  They did such a great job!  The activity room was beautifully decorated and the food was delicious.  I didn't take a single picture.  I was too busy talking and running after the kids.  All of the kids ate like kings…they love Thanksgiving food! I hope this meal becomes a tradition for our group!

We cut out a bit early from the Thanksgiving celebrations because Violet had an important appointment.  Her first haircut!  Her hair wasn't really long enough for a true haircut, but it needed a little shaping.  Especially in the back.  She was in danger of the infamous "baby mullet".  Ugh.  We had to stop this before it went too far!  Ha!

My friend Katrina offered to do the honors.  Thank you, Katrina!  I had the boys take pictures of the whole thing.  This was the best picture they took.

Most of the rest were blurry selfies.  Those stinkers were bored!  Anyway, Violet sat pretty still and didn't scream or cry.  Katrina was able to remove all traces of a mullet.  

Here's an "after" photo.  Violet's hair looks great,but how about Katrina's hair?  Isn't it gorgeous?

After the haircut, we had a pretty normal day.  A trip to the grocery store and then a visit with my sister and the cousins.  Later on my dad took both boys to see the Trojans play their last home game.  I'm pretty sure he deserves the "Wold's Best Pop" award for this.  It was a good day. 

Our Traditional Halloween, 2013

As most of you know, we generally don't make a big deal about Halloween.  In the past we've made the rounds to various family members houses to show off the kids' costumes and then went out to dinner.  It worked for us.  This year, the Hubs wanted to do something different.  He wanted to "really" Trick-or-Treat.  Not that our kids needed anymore candy… the Fall Festival at church provided tons of that.  But he thought it would be fun to go to a subdivision and "really" Trick-or-treat.  At strangers' houses.  This was a first to me, but I went along for the ride.  

We drove to a local subdivision and it was crowded.  Really packed.  Cars were lined up and down the street so we parked at another subdivision across the street and walked to "the" subdivision.  We walked up to the first house and were greeted by a zombie jumping out of a casket as the kids' took their candy.  The boys loved it, of course.  I worried in the back of my mind that we would all have seizures from the massive strobe light.  Of course we didn't, and as we were walking away to the next house we ran into two of our football families.  It was nice to have female conversation… us moms and Violet hung back and talked while the dads and boys had a ball Trick-or-Treating.  It was fun.  We will most likely do it again next year.  

I tried and tried, and this was the best shot I could get of all three.  I should probably explain why Shaun doesn't have a costume.  He thought he was too old to dress up since his youth group was having a White Out the day before Halloween.  The only costume he needed was a white shirt.  At the last minute, he decided that he wanted to be a kid one more year and go to Kidpak.  It was too late to get a costume, so he improvised.  He was an injured football player.  Get it?  Ha!

Fall Walk

Yesterday morning the kids and I were in town so we decided to take a walk.  We started out at Wilshire Trails Park and walked the trail to the library and back.  It was good exercise and the weather was beautiful.  A little warm, in fact.  

And, surprisingly, the boys wanted to be photographed.  This happens…never, so I was happy to oblige.  

I have some handsome boys, if I may say so myself.  

The walk took a little longer than I thought it would, so we had to scramble to get our school work finished before the Fall Festival at church.  We made it, but our day was hectic and we were bushed after everything was over. Of course, we brought home loads of candy and we're planning on going out for more in a little bit. I can already tell we're gonna be hiding the stuff once the kids are in the bed!

Scary Stories

A few weeks ago, when our Georgia summer finally experienced a cool snap, Jordan went outside and said something along the lines of, "Mom, I think the weather should be like this all the time.  I'm tired of it being so hot".  

I totally agreed.  

Then he said that he wanted to get some spooky books from the library since the weather felt like Fall. I did what any mother would do:  I called on Alvin Schwartz.  I reserved some of my favorite spooky books from the library, some of my childhood favorites:  In a Dark Dark Room, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.  Those last two scared me silly as a child, and  I hoped my boys would love them, too.

They did.  

We loved them so much, in fact, that we renewed them twice and kept them six weeks.  For a while there, Jordan started telling everyone he knew a scary story.  I had to put a stop to that…not everybody appreciates a good scary story.  We had a lot of fun with these books and they brought back lots of memories. I have to turn them in today and I'm kind of sad about it.  

Until next year, my friends!

Not Your Average Sunday

Church was interesting today, that's for sure.  For starters, it was an extra early day for us.  Shaun sang with the Solution Choir in the main service and we were actually on time for the 7:15 a.m. sound check.  

I can never, ever get any good shots of my kids when they minister.  This is the best I could do from the balcony.  For the record, the choir sounded great.  Shaun was on the front row giving it all he had.  I love that he loves to worship.  

We had a special guest during Pastor Franklin's sermon today.  We are currently in the middle of a sermon series entitled Fear Fighters.  The special guest was Tino Wallenda of The World Famous Wallendas. The message was a good word for me about staying focused on God in the middle of your circumstance.  I needed to hear it!  Tino did his thing on the tight rope to illustrate the sermon.  Very cool!

Again, I couldn't get a decent picture from my seat, so I stole these from my friend Steven's Facebook page.

Like I said, not your average Sunday at church.  I love it!  I also loved that my parents came to church with me.  :)

And, just because it's adorable, here's a picture of Violet admiring her Daddy during his soundcheck this morning. 

Pumpkin Carvin'

Our dear friends the Cyphers invited us over to carve pumpkins today after church. These guys are serious about pumpkin carving.  The last time I carved a pumpkin, about 20 years ago, it took about 10 minutes.  We did the standard triangle eyes and nose and snaggle-toothed grin jack-o-lantern.  

My husband and his friends from work spent hours… literally… carving their pumpkins.  The kids helped a little, but mostly this was chance for the grown-up boys to play.  :)

In the meantime, the kids played with various electronic gadgets and and ate delicious Halloweenish food.  

The pumpkins turned out great, as you can see.  The fellowship was better.  We are blessed!

Old Friends

We're becoming old friends… with this lady in the green scrubs.  

Here she is with Shaun just a few weeks ago:

And here she is again, putting another cast on Shaun's leg two days ago.  

It almost looks like the same picture… same color of clothes, the same frown on my first born's face.  But, they are indeed two different pictures from two different days.  

Shaun's foot is broken.  

He broke it last Monday when he was riding a scooter barefoot.  Allowing him to do so was NOT my smartest move.  He said he "stubbed" his big toe and it was a little swollen.  The next day it was hurting but we reasoned that even if his toe was broken, there is nothing to be done for a broken toe.  He stayed home from co-op and choir practice to rest and the next day it was a little better.  This week, he said the pain had moved to his pinkie toe and then I noticed that the top of his foot was swollen.  So we went to the doctor.  And they told us that his foot is broken.  Not his toe.  His foot.  

I let my son walk around on a broken foot for over a week.  He's pretty tough, I guess.  Thankfully, he only has to wear this cast for three weeks.  "Three long weeks" as Shaun says.  The important thing is that we've all learned to never, ever ride scooters without shoes.  Sigh. 

Jr Trojan Football 2013

Well, football is over, at least for us.  Our final game was last Saturday.  The 7U Jr Trojans were 2-6.  Not the best record in the league, but I think most of the kids had fun anyway, and I know Jordan learned a lot.  

We had some frustrating moments… like when Jordan was suddenly pulled from the offensive line with no warning whatsoever.  He's good at offense.  Really good at blocking.  We didn't understand why he wasn't playing offense anymore.  And then Chris found out that Jordan told his coach that he wouldn't play offense anymore unless he could be the quarterback.  Sigh.  And ha ha!  He never did get to the the quarterback, but he's taken to running at the track with me so that he'll get faster and have a shot next year.  I love his determined spirit.  

Football surprised me.  I have never been shy about my dislike of the game or the fact that I did NOT want Jordan to play.  I thought it was too hot to make them work so hard at practice, and I hated when the coaches yelled at our boys.

  Well, now, it has grown on me and I'm seriously sad that our games are over. 

Chris was able to help coach.  Jordan both loved and hated this.  Ha!

I love this picture of Chris, Coach Scott and Jordan walking back to the field after a half-time.  I wonder what they were talking about?

And Shaun and some of his friends helped with water.

Violet did not care for football.  Sometimes she was such a handful that I couldn't even watch the game…I just pushed her around in her stroller and listened to her whine.  She did look adorable in her spirit wear, though.  Go Big Green!

I got out the monkey leash on our 7th game.  I wish I had thought of it sooner.  She was content to walk around and I could watch the game. 

Like I said, we didn't win many games.  Here's Jordan's victory dance after his second win of the season.  Priceless!

Even though we're sad it's over, it was nice to sleep in this morning.  Our lazy Saturdays won't last long.  Jordan's already talking about wrestling and Shaun will be starting basketball soon.  Exciting times around here!

Field Trip!

The Smith Academy took a little field trip yesterday.  We drove to Kennesaw and met up with some other members of our co-op at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History.  It took a lot longer to get there than I anticipated and we were late.  Our group was gracious and waited on us, thank goodness.  It was a great museum!  We all love the Civil War and Shaun is taking a Civil War Class at co-op.  The boys and Chris really enjoyed it.  I let them spend time together and hung out with Violet during the tour.  The museum has an AMAZING playroom for little ones and she had a blast.  

We did manage to look around the actual museum a little bit.  She kept saying "Hey" to the statue railroad workers and seemed very confused when they didn't answer her back.  I guess she was wondering why they didn't make a big deal about her the way everyone else does.  Ha!

After the tour was over we explored the old caboose outside and I was finally able to take some pictures. 

And one more of the five of us.  

Things may be different next year.  Jordan is talking about going to "real" school next year.  We're praying about it and I'm preparing my heart for the possibility of him not being home all of the time.  We have almost a year to decide...I think it will take that long for me to be ready.  Ha!

For now, I'm soaking in every minute of having all three of our kids at home. We had a really fabulous day together yesterday.  After the field trip, we had lunch and took Shaun to his piano lesson.  Then we continued our quest to find Violet a pair of black Mary Janes.  It should NOT be this difficult.  Since we were in the mall and Halloween is next week we decided to pay one last visit to the "Halloween" store.  Others know it as Spirit. 

We've frequented this store for the past several months.  We never buy anything but it's cheap entertainment.  The first time we went Jordan screamed like a little girl at the jumping spider.  This caused me to laugh so hard I nearly peed my pants.  The kids LOVE this store.  I thought it was amusing at first but here's the way I felt yesterday:

To say that I'm over the "Halloween store" would be an understatement.  

Sigh. 

We were really just killing time until Jordan's end of the season football party. 

And then it was time for home.  And bed.  It was a good day.