And in other news....

Terrific T is getting super annoyed that he has bright green...poop! Can you tell what caused it? Yikes!!

Birthdays are good for something at least!

....and it isn't for getting older! I am so over being old. Seriously. I still feel inside like I am 20, but the lines on my face and weight that doesn't fall off anymore say otherwise. I hate it. BUT I do love that you can milk your "special day" for all it's worth. You know what I mean, right? The day before we left on vacation, I quickly threw together matching (but not matchy-matchy...no worries) outfits with the hopes of doing some family pictures in the mountains. The last time I took family pics was over a year ago, so it was time for some new ones. We have been putting it off all week because it has been raining most evenings and I knew we would have to get up at the crack of dawn and...well...we are NOT early risers around here. But today I used the "my birthday is tomorrow and all I want is happy family pictures" card and what do you  know? It worked. No tears. No whining. I'm so excited to get home and look through them all. I can't load my CF card onto the laptop to see them but keep scrolling through them (all 4 memory cards of them!) on the camera screen. I'm one pleased mama...and even ok with turning another year older tomorrow. Beats the alternative, right?

Here is one shot from my little camera from two nights ago. {funny side story....yes, again. I bought a new Canon Powershot to take with me to Cambodia. I bought it the week before I left and lost it the next day somehow. It had been more than a month and was driving us nuts that we couldn't find it. Sure, it was little, but it was in a red case. The day before we left for CO, Big Daddy was in the closet under the stairs getting a visor for himself and found it. Apparently, I had put it in there once when there was a tornado threat and forgot to get it out. I always put all my good cameras and external hard drives in there with us but I guess I threw this in there too since it was new. So glad he found it as we have used the fire out of it this week.}

The last double rainbow I saw was when we were leaving Poipet, Cambodia after our week there. God is so amazing. I love it. This one was huge and we could see the entire thing, from one end to the other. I couldn't get it all in one shot, unfortunately, but got a few...love this one!

love

Terrific T picked these for me today on a hike.
Love them.
Love him.

At least she is honest

I was correcting Princess P yesterday and telling her she needs to quit acting spoiled. She quickly replied, "I'm not acting spoiled...I AM spoiled!!!"

Admitting is the first step, right?

I have good people, y'all!

Me to friend: Hey, Can you keep 2/3 of my kids for an undetermined amount of time so I can take the other one for minor surgery?
Awesome friend: Sure!

Me to another friend: Hey, Can I leave my dog with you to hang out for, oh, say 9 days while we frolick around CO?
Another awesome friend: Sure!

Me to yet another fabulous friend: Hey, Can I have a ridiculous amount of art supplies delivered to your house because I will be out of town but don't want to miss out on the 20% off sale?
3rd fab friend: Sure!

Seriously, I couldn't imagine doing life with better friends. You guys are the best! xoxo

Do I get stitches today?

Terrific T keeps asking me this. We went in yesterday to have a suspicious birthmark/mole looked at and they are going to remove it in a few weeks. He is so pumped because they said he gets stitches.

I'm glad he is excited because his momma gets queasy just thinking about it. You see...it's on his head, about 5cm behind his ear. Where there is no fat (not that he has any anywhere on his body). And he will be awake. And me and Big Daddy (oh yes you are) will have to hold him down while they do it. I asked if they could write a script for vallum and they said yes. I probably ought to have them write one for one for Terrific T too ;) Just kidding. Kinda.

A good friend is all too familiar with this process and has been walking me though it. Even while she is on vacation (now that is a good friend!). And I know he will be ok and this is more preventative than anything, but I don't like my baby having his head cut into. Call me crazy. I would appreciate the prayers that it is super easy for him and I don't pass out on him. I remember when I was in high school, I had a birthmark removed off my head and my dad about passed out. I still remember being able to see his feet as he was hiding behind the equipment in the room so he didn't have to see it ;)

Parenting is hard, y'all. These little boogers get right into your heart and you hurt when they hurt, and worry when they worry. I know he is thinking about it because he keeps talking about it. But so far, it is excitement about it...and I can live with that.

Mini Shopaholic!

I was looking up some books to request from the library, and on a whim typed in Sophia Kinsella to see if she had something new. Who knew? I loved her other Shopaholic books got good at mentally *bleeping* a LOT though) so downloaded this one last night and started reading it. Hilarious that she now has a little 2 year old mini me.

Have you read it?

And I thought we were healthy ;)

Terrific T has a dr appt tomorrow so I printed out all the new patient paperwork just now to fill out ahead of time (trying to minimize our wait time since it will be me and the three kids). I was reading the list of "have you ever had/has anyone in your family ever had" ailments to Big Daddy because I don't know all of his family's history. {side bar - any idea how many generations you are supposed to go back on those forms? Just us, the parents? Our parents, so his grandparents? Our grandparents? Goodness - we didn't know where to stop and didn't want to get an answer wrong if it was important}

It went something like this:

Me: Heart Trouble?
Big Daddy: Hmmm
Terrific T: Yes! Princess P. (she was at the dr for that earlier this month but all the tests came back ok. I think we can safely leave that off but do have it in our grandparents...better mention it, just in case that is important)
Me: Blood Disease?
Big Daddy: No
Terrific T: Yes! N4 (his cousin with diabetes)
Me: We cover that later under diabetes. Headaches?
Big Daddy: No
Terrific T: Oh yes - I have had a headache
Me: Dry Skin?
Big Daddy: No
Terrific T: Uh Huh! I have some right here on my knee!
Me: numbness or tingling?
Terrific T: YES! Sometimes I wake up and my foot is tingling.
Me: Nose Bleeds?
Big Daddy and Terrific T: Yes! (finally...one that T does have!)

It went on and on with T thinking he has had everything mentioned and us marking no to everything but nose bleeds and jaundice...I felt obligated since he did have slight jaundice as a baby.

Should be an interesting visit. Prayers are welcome!

Forget the dog...

Beware of guard clone.

Consider yourself warned.

As American As...Blueberry Pie

When we were dating, I made Big Daddy a blueberry pie that he liked so much, he mentioned it in our premartial counseling. Our pastor thought that was so sweet that he mentioned during our wedding. I have made a handful of them over the years but not nearly as often as I should because I don't like them don't have nearly enough hours in my day.

Today, Big Daddy stayed home from work because he isn't feeling well. I noticed that Aldi had blueberries for $.99/pint so swung by and picked up a pint or 7. {funny side story....Aldi only takes cash or debit cards. I always have plenty of cash but hadn't gotten cash this week and had just been to three other stores and spent all but $10. I wasn't even thinking about where I was going so I get through the checkout line and he tells me it is $14. Hmmm. I had to ask him to put things back and just kept the 7 pints of blueberries and 3 pounds of strawberries. The next two customers were older gentlemen who both were so sweet and offered to pay the difference but I wouldn't let them. I was cracking up...and glad the kids weren't with me to see mom have to put things back. I know they would have thought we were poor now - haha! Lesson learned: I'll be double checking my envelopes from now on before I go there! Now back to the regularly scheduled blog post} Some wives make their sick hubbies chicken noodle soup, I went the blueberry pie route instead. And since I had put everything else back at the store today, we had cereal for dinner and blueberry pie for dessert. Hope it helps him feel better...or at least know he is loved!!

Such a good little helper

This old cookbook falls open to this page on its own.

I don't eat blueberry pie but I heard it was yummy.

Awkward!

I just had the most awkward moment and it left me racking my brain. I was at the library and a lady comes over and called me by my maiden name and was all "How have you been? You look great." Hmmm...I would have sworn I had never seen her before in my live if she hadn't called me by name (Granted a name I haven't used in 14 1/2 years, but still, it was my name at some point.). OK, so she is asking how many kids I have (clearly I was standing by a stack of children's books while the kids were still looking for more) and what I was up to. As I was telling, her Terrific T walked up and she said, "I used to teach with your mom."

A clue. A clue. 

Ok...so we taught together before I was married. Hmmm...that narrows it down but I still can't think of her name. Am I just getting that old or what the heck is wrong with me?!?! I texted my sister about it and she said "$5 the lady friends you on facebook within the week." She is on! It would be worth the $5 to be able to quit racking my brain. Of course, if she does friend me, I'll be deleting this post...so read fast ;o)

Camping at Greenleaf

We just got home from 4 days of camping at Greenleaf State Park. We had such a great time and lots and lots of laughs. I love how God puts people in your path when you need them. We got to the campsite and found the spot we wanted. I am the "back-er-in-er" of the camper...so I started backing it in. An older gentleman came out of his camper to watch/help. After two attempts, he asked if we wanted him to try. Um. YES. So he did it and did a great job (clearly, he has more experience than I do). He then hung around and helped us set up camp. He was a hoot and if you looked up "good 'ol boy from OK" in the dictionary, I think his picture would be there. Great guy and so much help.  It is always hard to leave camp but C is going to church camp on Monday and we needed to get him ready to go so came home today instead of tomorrow. We had such a great time, even though it was a million degrees outside. Thankfully, our camper has excellent a/c!

So, to recap our week, we:

• hiked:

That is the Arkansas River in the background (and Sunni hiding under my legs).

• played putt-putt

• Went fishing:

The boys fishing. T fed the fish a LOT of worms and C practiced his casting while some lady yelled at her kids in the background. People, don't yell at your kids...at least don't yell at them in public. It's annoying!

And Miss P was the only one to catch anything!

Attempting to kiss her fish, before throwing it back.

And then she caught another one!

She baited her own hook and caught her fish all by herself. Crazy little thing. 

•  Rode some paddle boats:

This was not Sunni's favorite part of the trip but she did great (once we pried her paws off the dock and got her in the boat).

I got the better end of the "co-pilot" deal. C was a machine at paddling. I barely had to do anything.

The princess...she and T jumped in and swam around a little. Yuck.

•  Canoe races

C and Big Daddy entered a canoe race this morning. P went along for the ride (and ended up the only person in the race needing a bath when she was done!). They didn't win but had a great time.

•  Made some new friends

T and P both made a new friend and had a blast playing with them. There were a lot of kids there and all the kids had fun playing together but these two were their faves. P went to bed tonight crying that she misses Kate.

•  ate:

OK, there aren't a lot of pictures of this because for some reason, I left behind one ingredient for about every meal we had planned. Like...forgot the hotdogs but brought the buns, cheese and condiments. Oops. Thankfully we cut our trip short a day so had plenty to eat...just wasn't as tasty as we had planned - lol. A couple of highlights were:

A smiling pancake drop this morning. That was a surprise when Big Daddy flipped it over :)

And T's bacon flavored hotdog he got at a convenience store today on the way home. Yikes.

 Add to that swimming, biking, reading, movies, and lots of bugs, sweat, and dirt, and you have a perfect week together as a family. I'm so glad we are able to camp together and can't wait until next time...especially since it will be in CO, which will be cooler!

One minute with T!

Yesterday, T was being silly while I was taking pics of the ice cream making and I made a little collage of one minute in the life of T (for the one I'll print, I put his whole name there ;o) ).

God Bless the USA

As I was sitting here cropping pics to post of the kids making ice cream today, I started playing Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA in the background. It is hard to explain but I started feeling almost guilty for living in such an amazing country where we are free and so very blessed. After getting to be in Cambodia to see precious Odom get his first taste of freedom, and then reading today about those that weren't as "lucky" as precious Odom, it just doesn't seem fair.  How can I even use the word lucky to describe a child that has been through what he has in his short life? It really isn't fair. We have so much, just because of where we were born, and yet we take so much for granted. Please don't take your freedom for granted. I am so thankful to those that have gone before us who have made it possible for us to have these freedoms and those that are currently fighting so we can keep them.

God Bless the USA

And now back to that ice cream. We usually make homemade ice cream on most all of the summer holidays, but Big Daddy is working today and I didn't want to mess with it. I found an easy recipe online that the kids could do themselves so even though I was extremely skeptical, we tried it. And it worked. C's didn't work the first time but I think his ice popped a hole in his bag of ice cream and some water leaked in. T and P's did great. C tried a second batch and it worked too. YAY.

Shake it up, baby!

Messy but good.

art is in the eyes of the beholder

Wow, those art lessons are really paying off around here. Princess P drew this picture that is quite obviously me....when I was auditioning to be Angelina Jolie in a Visine commercial recently. Nice job, sweetie. Keep up the good work :o)

OK, gotta go tan...and take a nap! Happy 4th!

"No news is good news"

"No news is good news", or so the Dr said. But I'm thinking that good news would be better news than no news. Am I right or am I right?



Practicing my patience.

Happy Weekend.