christmas fun

well, after a month full of making cookies, watching christmas movies, reading christmas stories, shopping for gifts, and decorating, the fun of christmas has proven to be exciting and crazy at our house! we've now had christmas with the larrison extended family at my cousin kelli's house where santa came and visited. i don't think caleb ever stopped talking to him :) then we had christmas with the teipens down at their house. my kids absolutely love their cousins and enjoyed every minute of playing with their new toys together. then we had christmas at our house after going downtown on christmas eve to see the pretty lights. i hope the zoo parking lot didn't mind some extra moisture on the ground as we had to make an emergency little boy X 2 pee pee stop! santa spoiled the boys, of course, and even left some surprises for mom & dad too this year. we have one more christmas left at my parent's house which will make for another house full of lots of fun toys, i'm sure! despite the chaos of toys, stockings, candy, etc, the boys are very mindful of why we're celebrating christmas and often talk about jesus' birthday and why God sent him to us. it's quite precious and i'm so thankful that we live somewhere safe where we can celebrate and talk about jesus! merry christmas!!

ouch

well my first day of work was great...the people were very nice, the job seems very interesting, and i was excited to go home and tell jerry all about it...until...i crashed our pathfinder. it was totally my fault. i honestly don't even remember seeing the red light until it was too late, but i did see the big red truck that was coming at me. i can't really explain what happened. i think i glanced down at my phone and was so focused on what road i was gonna take that when i looked up i was in the middle of the intersection. it's stupid and i feel like an idiot for causing such a preventable accident, but it truly was an accident. the driver of the truck was very understanding and even the police officer didn't give me a ticket for running the light. we both were not injured. of course i'm very sore and i'm sure he is too, but considering what could've happened we are both very lucky. it's totally by the grace of God that such a horrible accident resulted in only damage to metal! what an incredible power i have on my side!! i feel very fortunate and thankful that i was able to go home and hug my family that evening :)

new opportunities

we, jerry & i, have decided that i'm going back to work part time. i have been trying to pick up shifts at methodist on and off, but i need something with guaranteed hours/pay and it's time for jerry to take a break and only work 1 job! my search began and i felt like i was getting nowhere. you'd think with 10 years of pediatric experience i would've had an easier time, but i felt very discouraged. finally after emailing my previous manager, i got some great leads and was offered 2 different positions. this made for a difficult decision, but one that i was excited to make. i've accepted a position on the medication reconciliation team at iu hospital in indy. it will be completely different than bedside nursing and an awesome learning experience. i'm very excited to take on a new challenge. i'm going to stay supplemental at methodist so that i can keep up my pediatric nursing skills also, but my focus now will be on learning how to be a med rec nurse!

don't ever turn your back on a 16 month old

life lesson...
while i was trying to discipline caleb in the corner tonight and was tied up for quite some time, abram decided to...
1. empty this kleenex box.
2. take the leftover syrup on eli's dinner plate and completely cover the telephone with it. i didn't realize this until my sister-in-law called and i picked up a VERY sticky and sweet smelling phone.
apparently abram was trying to teach me a lesson...

our tree

here is our 'perfect' tree...cut down and brought to our home to be decorated and adored by 3 little boys.

here's my poor baby abram. beaten and bruised as he may be, he's still precious. i thought he was gonna have to take a trip to the ER after he fell/was slightly pushed into the corner of the coffee table. he's the first one of my boys to get a goose egg and boy did he get a doozie. then a few days later he was trying to play trains with caleb and caleb wasn't havin' it so he knocked him in the face with a bridge. it originally just left a small mark on the corner of his eye, but as you can see, it quickly turned into a black eye. on top of all of this, he got very sick with 2 ear infections, a sinus infection, and wheezing. this picture is taken the day i took him to the doctor. i thought for sure the doctor would file with child protective services as soon as she saw him. i told her i completely understood if she was obligated to do so. instead she laughed at me and hugged abram while encouraging me to buy a helmet for the poor baby. this has got to be the most pitiful picture i've ever seen. it needs a title like, "save the child" or something. i assure you, he's healthy now and healing up just fine! in fact, he's getting good at fighting off his 3 year old brother!

thankful

this thanksgiving was spent with my dad's family at our house. cousins, grandma, parents, and brothers were all together enjoying a few old home videos of 'the 80's' while we stuffed our bellies with yummy food. lots of laughs and a little togetherness is always good. now we have christmas to look forward to. this weekend we'll venture to wagoner's tree farm in greencastle to find the perfect tree. then we'll spend hours trying to make very heavy ornaments stay on real tree branches and pray that all of the lights still work. every night we'll look for a christmas movie to watch while we play before bed. then we'll read christmas books before we open the the next window on the advent calendar with a little piece of chocolate waiting for one of the boys. every year christmas is so special and as thanksgiving comes to a close and we look forward to this wonderful season, i must stop and thank God for absolutely everything and everyone in my life. some days i do forget to say thank you, but during this time of year, it seems a little easier to slow down and remember what we've been so blessed with. if you're reading this, then you've come into my life at some point and put your little handprint on my heart in some way, so thank you...i truly am so very thankful!

moment of reflection

while holding caleb on the potty today when he was trying to poopy he discovered something amazing...here were his words..."mom! i can see me in your eyes!" i had to think about it for a moment, but then realized that as he was staring into my eyes while concentrating on doing his business, he was literally seeing his reflection in my eyes. then of course he asked, "can you see you in my eyes?" such a simple discovery by a 3 year old, but it does make you stop and ponder for a moment...

proud of my lil pirates

the past couple of weeks have flown by and i'm left with A LOT of halloween candy, a potty-trained 3 year old, a "charming" kindergartener, and still the sweetest wheezing baby boy ever. so to rewind a little...caleb celebrated his 3rd birthday which meant that his statement of "i'll go pee pee in the potty when i'm 3" was gonna be put to the test. after a day and a half, he was potty trained. i'll have to admit, that first day i thought there was no way he was gonna do it, but he did and he was so proud of all of the treasures he got in the process. i'll stand by my belief that waiting til 3 years old and giving rewards every time they potty is the trick to a successful experience in the pee pee business.
we had tons of fun in the days leading up to halloween...going to the hospital's annual "hay day" to trick or treat, the library party, and visiting the museum's haunted house. by the time the boys actually went out on halloween night, i was a pro at putting on their pirate costumes. it was all so much fun and one of the many reasons why i love fall!
i had my first kindergarten parent teacher conference this week. i felt so incredibly proud of eli when i left kingsway christian school that day. the first words out of his teacher's mouth were, "i'm so proud of eli". she went on to say how well he does on all of his work, how he's a leader and the other kids really respect him for his behavior and how smart he is. she also mentioned at least 5 times how "charming" he was. she almost had me in tears by the way she talked about my big baby boy. once again, making me feel so blessed. just when you wonder how you're doing as a parent or how your child acts when you're not around, you hear these positive words of encouragement and you have to feel so very proud.
abram is already starting out the season with runny noses and lots of wheezes, but hopefully will stay out of the hospital this year. he's such a happy baby and so very smart. he can put away his dishes when i'm unloading the dishwasher and even tries to get into the locked cabinet to get out the detergent for me. it's hilarious. it's just amazing to me the things he does that he totally shouldn't be doing at his age. i keep telling him to stop growing, so he'll stay my baby boy, but he doesn't seem to be listening. oh well, i guess sweet baby boys turn into sweet little boys, at least most of the time :)

my confession...

i LOVE my bed! no, i mean i truly love my bed! i walk by it during the day as i'm doing things in and out of the room and i look at it longingly...sounds so insane, i know. but the softness, coziness, quiet of it, and relief it brings is totally priceless to me. it doesn't hurt that we have the most amazing mattress...one that you practically melt into. no matter how bad or crazy the day was, when i lay down in it, my body is immediately relaxed. it's probaby a good thing that jerry is asleep in it during the day most of the time because i might just have to get my fix by sneaking little relaxation moments on and off during the day. i can't even believe i'm writing this about a bed, but what can i say...it's the little things that keep us going.

pumpkin patch

have you ever been to a pumpkin patch in indiana when it was 90 degrees outside? sounds impossible with our cool fall weather, right? wrong! today we did our annual trip to beasley's to find the perfect pumpkins and came home feeling very stinky, to say the least. fall is by far my favorite time of the year and i look forward to the pumpkin patch, but i must say it was not very pleasant this year. the kids were so great despite they're bright red faces and sweat-beaded noses. jerry's shirt was soaked as he carried the pumpkins from the patch to the hayride and then from the hayride to the van. july heat in october just doesn't seem right and is almost miserable...oh well, we got 3 pumpkins for our 3 punkins and i guess that's what matters. my carmel apple was definitely a nice treat once i got back into the air conditioned house too :)

family

i just have to say...i LOVE my family. i'm not just talking about jerry and the boys. i'm talking about the larrison family, the teipen family, extended family, etc. we had the pleasure of going to the annual teipen cookout this weekend and i was reminded in so many ways of how thankful i should be for the family i married into. it's become sort of a reunion for jerry's family with all kinds of extended family and friends coming and is always such a joy for everyone. to sit and catch up with people who you literally see once a year is something i have come to truly treasure. this year i was not let down one bit as i got to visit with such sincere, kind, thoughtful, and just plain wonderful people. one of jerry's second cousins in particular is so genuine and makes you feel so warm inside just by being in her presence. she truly listens to you when you speak and you sense her care and concern as she wants to know every detail about your children and your life. i just feel so blessed. i love my in-laws so much, especially for how they take care of my children. and of course my parents are irreplacable in every way. jerry and i are both very close to our brothers and their families. not everyone can brag about their family, but i definitely have every right too. they make me happy...happy to be around, happy to know, happy to love, and happy to see, whether it's once a week or once a year.

football? no thanks.

it's been awhile since i've written here and a lot has happened over the last month...eli started playing flag football and boy has it been an experience. let's just say his coaches seem to think they're coaching the next superbowl team rather than a bunch of 5-6 year olds that don't have a clue. it's amazing to me that grown men who volunteer to coach little boys can have such high expectations for a flag football team. they're out there yelling at the kids to block left, block right, slot left, v back, etc. when these kids need simple instructions of what exactly they're supposed to do. football is overwhelming for anyone to understand, and a 5 year old does not have the ability to learn, remember, then carry out specific positions and plays. i have actually been biting my tongue not to call the head of the football league and complain about these coaches, but i feel like since they are volunteers, they deserve a little slack. when we got the papers the first night of practice it clearly stated that this league was about having "fun" and learning the basics of football. "fun" is definitely NOT the priority of these coaches. unfortunately the first experience your child has with a sport sort of sets the tone for how they view that sport from then on and i do believe that they have essentially ruined football for eli. last night i took him to his game and as soon as he saw his coaches he started crying. not a cry baby cry, but a genuine, crocodile tear cry and he said, "mom, i don't wanna play". after a long discussion, he basically said he's not having fun, the coaches are loud and yell a lot and he just doesn't want to play. jerry and i have always said that our kids will finish what they start, but after calling jerry (he had to work so he wasn't at the game), we decided that this was the exception. eli really did try...he went to multiple practices where it was 90 degrees and they practiced for an hour or more without even getting a water break. he got pushed around into his positions and yelled at a few times for supposedly not paying attention. he gave it a shot and he truly was not having fun. at 5 years old, i give him credit for trying and i don't call him a quitter for giving up before it was over. i wasn't enjoying watching the boys get treated that way and like i said, i'm so tempted to call someone and complain. i'm sad for eli that this experience was not pleasant for him and i almost feel guilty for suggesting he try football instead of play soccer like he wanted to. i guess you just don't know until you try. we'll know better the next time i guess. some days i wish sports weren't even offered at such a young age. we've had such great coaches though in soccer and baseball that i guess i just took them for granted. they really do make or break your season, so to speak. so to all the good coaches that remember they're just kids...thank you! and to all the bad coaches that demand way too much from these little boys...quit being jerks and save it for players that are getting paid to listen to your crap.

long pause...

life somehow has gotten the best of me lately, but i will be back soon...

just can't do it

yesterday i was scheduled to work from 7a-3:30pm to get to know the new computer system on my unit. i wasn't considered part of the "staff", but i was involved a little in patient care in order to figure out how to chart with the new system, etc. well the day before, i was caring for 2 sicks boys at my own house...eli had 104.5 fever and diarrhea, caleb had 103 fever and diarrhea, both stating that their throats and "belly hurts". i took them both in to see the doctor more or less for my own peace of mind that they didn't have strep throat or something worse. just as i suspected, some kind of viral bug was all she diagnosed them with, along with plenty of fluids and rest. since the baby boy was well, i figured saturday with daddy would be okay. when i left that morning at 6am, jerry was already awake and i told him, "make sure you call me if for some reason they're too sick to handle". i didn't hear anything til 9am. i called to check on him/them and he couldn't even talk cuz the baby had horrible diarrhea and was screaming from a raw bottom. he called me back and said, "you have to come home, i can't do this". apparently the dr's office had called to check on them and said to take caleb to the ER because of this swollen eye that they were now concerned about. after 2 1/2 hours at work, i rescued my poor husband from the fevers, poops, and screaming. i called the dr. back to get an explanation of exactly why we couldn't wait til monday to get labs on caleb and she agreed that we could, so no need to rush to the ER. within one hour of being home the boys were running around crazy, acting like normal and i was left wondering where my sick children went that i was there to take care of. of course, once the tylenol and motrin wore off they were all laying on the couch, lifeless again. jerry did admit, "i just can't do what you do...not with 3 sick kids especially". thank you, jerry...for admitting that and being man enough to call for help :) i told him that he didn't get a fair chance that day, not with all 3 of them being sick. we'll try again next monday when i'm scheduled to work. maybe this time he'll have well children as he gets to try out the new school routine. good luck!

kindergarten

the 1st day of school is always so exciting, at least for me. i still can't believe that my baby boy is old enough to be in kindergarten! because eli is still going to kingsway christian school, it wasn't as big of a deal to me as if he would've gotten onto a school bus and left. i walked him in to his new class and was welcomed with a "to do" list on his new desk. this was a bit of a shock to me since i was not fore-warned about this and had 2 other children sitting in a stroller with me. thankfully, my best friend was also there with her son and was done with the list, so she helped me frantically get everything sorted out and things labeled correctly for eli to start his day. his 1st day must've went okay because when asked about it his response was "it was fine". typical boy response and something i'm very used to! as a mom, i want details. i've discovered though, at least from this boy, that details are not among the necessities in life when it comes to school. i guess if he's happy and there's no bad reports from the teacher, then school is going fine. kindergarten seems like a big step in a 5 year old's life, but maybe i'm just overrating it. he sure looked cute though!

8 years

today jerry and i celebrated our 8th anniversary! it's kind of sad that we didn't even have cards to exchange, but after a few children, you realize that it's not about sentimental cards or gifts. TIME...that's what matters. we actually got to spend quality time together, minus children, for 3 1/2 hours. we started with dinner out and kept reminding each other to eat slowly and enjoy our food since we had noone but ourselves to feed. when our waitress brought our dinners out, i said, "oh, i'm not even done with my salad yet". to not scarf down my food is so rare of an occasion that i was surprised when i had food waiting to be eaten. after we enjoyed our peaceful dinner, we chose to spend our time shopping in stores that aren't "kid-friendly". we stopped by the furniture store to look at couches that hopefully someday we can buy to match our living room that we're getting ready to re-paint. we went into various stores looking for a coat rack. we even went into hh gregg and shopped for our 50 inch plasma tv that we're hoping to get before colts season starts. after stopping in to about 5 different stores without having to strap children in and out of the truck, we decided to sit outside at the ice cream shop and eat dessert together. not exactly the most romantic anniversary evening, but it was just what we needed...to be just "us". although we did have an ageda, we were together doing what "we" wanted to do...that, in and of itself, is a celebration!

old friends

last week i finally got to go meet and visit with an old friend from high school and her 4 little boys. yes, 4, little boys...crazy that between the 2 of us there were 7 little boys running around. it's unbelievable how you can not talk to someone for almost 10 years and basically pick up where you left off. we both have changed so much, but at the same time, not at all. she even made the comment that when we talked on the phone for directions to her house, she thought it didn't sound like me and then i laughed and she said, "yep, that's tracy". we let some silly mistakes come between us, which was absolutely immature and petty, but at the time, well, i guess we were young, vulnerable, stupid, etc. now, in our 30's and both happily married, i think we both realize that life does go on and time really does heal. she was one of my best friends and i have so many great memories with her that i feel so thankful for a second chance at our friendship. now that we both have boys and are in similar life situations, i hope we can keep "growing up" together.

a little girl time

this weekend the boys went with jerry to spend the night camping out in mawmaw and pawpaw teipen's backyard. they worked very hard clearing out a spot out by the woods where they made a fire and pitched their tent. abram and i went down yesterday to spend the day with them and got to hang out and watch the boys, plus dru & hanna (their cousins) ride the "big red tractor", the orange tractor, and the 4 wheeler all day. hanna fits right in with the boys, but when she saw me getting out my nail polish to paint my toenails, she quickly came right to my side. she was fascinated with all of the color options she had to choose from and decided on bright purple for her nails & toes. i didn't realize what i was getting myself into when i agreed to paint them...those nails are tiny! i always thought i'd love to paint a little girl's nails, do her hair, and other girly things, but i soon realized this is all much harder than it seems. i found myself re-doing a few nails here and there as she decided to move or i overestimated the amount of paint. she didn't complain over my less-than-perfect job and soon was my buddy. i decided to try to braid her hair next...bad idea. i started out okay, but by the middle of her head, her baby fine hair had already escaped my tight grip. it was a fight between her moving around, me not having enough fingers, and her fine, silky hair and i totally lost. two cute barretts fixed her up and she had had enough "girl" time and i had too. i must admit, boys are much easier. although they definitely don't have the patience to sit through a manicure, they are so easily occupied with dirt, motorized vehicles, and finding great sticks that i find myself very thankful right now that i have boys.

smelly stuff

today i took the boys to the hendricks county fair which was a lot of fun. we hadn't been to the new fairgrounds, so that was a nice treat to actually have clean bathrooms & an organized fair ground. the boys, of course, found the tractors to be the most fun of all. there were tons of them and if they would've let them sit on all of them, they would have. fortunately for my sake, and abram's, they only let you try out 4 of the tractors. otherwise, i was a little worried because the first barn we went in was the horse barn and caleb's words were, "mom, it's stinky in here". he had a horrible look on his face and for those of you that don't know, caleb has a very sensitive gag reflex so i was a bit concerned. i assurred him that animals just smell that way and that even though he thought it was "stinky" the animals were clean and he'd be fine. he made it through all of the barns without any incident and seemed to like the rabbits the best. he wondered when we could have a rabbit at our house. eli was quite disappointed that the rides weren't up and running during the early hours of the day, but my wallet was not at all upset. we decided to eat lunch out instead of spending a fortune on fair food, so we headed over to pizza king to see the train deliver our drinks. the boys were having a great time when i noticed abram grunting. i knew what that meant, but since he rarely makes a mess of his poopy diapers, i wasn't in a hurry to change him. after a few mintues though i started to smell something, sorta like the barns we had just left at the fair. i thought maybe someone had something stuck to their sandal, but then i looked over and saw abram with brown stuff all over his outfit, in his hands, all over his legs, all over my keys, his toys, etc. i must say that i was completely unprepared for such an event since i thought we were just eating a quick lunch and heading home. i didn't even bring the diaper bag in which obviously was a big mistake. you'd think after 3 kids i would know better! i looked at eli and admitted to him that i had no idea how to handle this situation. it's not like i could just leave them all to run out to the van. so i used every napkin in the place and wiped as much off as i could and then very carefully snuck out of there. a bath, new clothes (for both of us), and disinfectant were ordered up and we were ready for a nap. lesson for the day...always be prepared!!!

the party

19 kids were at my house yesterday for abram's 1st birthday party...all under the age of 5!! all i have to say about that is "wow"!! the party was fun though and celebrating a 1st birthday is always interesting since you don't really know how the baby is gonna react to the attention, present opening, cake, etc. abram was a little overwhelmed during the gift opening time as he was completely lost in a pile of presents and kids trying to get at his new toys. he found one toy that he really liked though and tried to focus his attention on that while his brothers opened his gifts for him. he LOVED the big doggie that his brothers got him as he's been loving on theirs for awhile now. the boys knew exactly what they were getting him for his birthday long ago when he started to grow attached to their doggies. he's already doing the lightning crawl to get to it everytime he sees it and then wrestles and growls as he rolls around with it. the dog is at least a foot longer than him! the cake, or rather, cupcake time at the party was rather uneventful. abram didn't really have any desire to try to mess it up or eat it. i ended up tearing it apart for him and forcing a piece in his mouth just to say that he at least ate a bite. he was ready to go outside after the party and got a gator ride from his big brother. he played with his buggy for awhile and then was ready to pass out with his thumb and blankie. after spending a few hours making a video for his party of him from birth til now to music, i completely forgot to show everybody it since i was so distracted by all of the excitement of the day. i remembered while some of my family were still here, so i at least got to show them. hopefully my dad can figure out how to email it, so that i can try to show it off to everyone else. oh, and i DID get the scrapbook done!

happy 1st birthday, Abram

today my baby boy turned 1 which is so incredibly hard to believe. oh how quickly the "baby days" go by. on his birthday, abram decided it was time to take off and he is now officially a toddler. of course his version of walking is a few steps at a time with 4 or 5 being the most before falling, but he is very proud when he does fall and even claps for himself. it's precious. i actually had to go into work today. after a year and a half of being home full time, methodist has maintained my nursing position and so i've decided to go back just one day a week. i'm so far behind on everything though that i had to take a computer class to learn our new charting system. lots of fun! jerry managed all 3 children at home by himself for about 9 hours which is his first time for that long. they were all alive when i got home and happily playing in their jammies that they had worn all day :) i could tell daddy was worn out though. if i could have made a penny for every time i thought about the boys all day while i was gone, i probably would've made more money than i actually did working for the day. there's definitely no place like home!

2 wheelin'!!

well, he finally did it...eli finally decided to take off and ride his bike without training wheels. it's been a long time comin'. since the beginning of the summer, jerry decided to test him out and took off the training wheels to try to teach him. what eli didn't realize at the time when he agreed to "try" it was that jerry wasn't gonna put them back on...ever. eli wasn't too happy about this as he totally enjoyed riding his bike and was completely confident with those little helper wheels. eli and jerry are both lions though (as the book Taming the Family Zoo talks about) and this factor made it almost impossible for them to agree that daddy letting go of the bike while eli practiced was okay and falling was part of practicing. eli pretty much just gave up on the bike idea and has been a big wheel master ever since. until wednesday...i told eli we were gonna practice so that when we take our walks at night, maybe we could ride our bikes together instead. his big wheel normally goes on the walks, but it's been sounding a little scary lately and i'm afraid it's gonna bust a wheel off and i'll be stuck carrying a big wheel and pushing a double stroller with over 10o lbs of boys. so, after eli asked for a popsicle, i told him he could have one after he practiced with me. he agreed and after a little talk about balancing the bike and a reminder that steering a bike is pretty much the same concept as steering a big wheel or his gator, off he went. one push from momma and a little confidence building along the way, he finally got it!! he did fall, but i quickly helped him, encouraged him, and off he went again. i knew he finally felt what riding a bike is supposed to feel like when he was yelling "who hoo's" and "look at me's" to all of the neighbors as he dodged mailboxes and cars. he did almost take a neighbor's mailbox out once, but for the most part is a little dare devil now. i'm so proud of him, not just for learning to ride his bike, but for trusting mommy and daddy, and most of all himself, that he could do it. falling IS part of learning and he realized that...it just took awhile...a lesson we ALL could learn from :)

scrapbookin' fool

over the past 5 years, i have tried my hardest to keep up with scrapbooking the lives of my boys each year. by the time abram came along, i was pretty much caught up but quickly learned that with 3 children there was no way to "make" time to devote to my pasttime. well, within the last month i realized that my goal of having abram's scrapbook done by his 1st birthday was probably completely unrealistic and i had pretty much decided not to even try. fortunately for abram, the mommy guilt of treating the poor 3rd child unfairly by neglecting my scrapbooking responsibilty overtook me and now i have become a scrapbookin' monster. every chance i get i'm busting my butt to get a few pages done. i'm up to 3 months old and i'm totally focused and determined to get this book done by his birthday party on the 21st. i ordered the actual book today and will hopefully have it filled by the time we're watching him devour his 1st birthday cake. wish me luck!!

lacquer anyone?

after a long wait, our new shelves in our living room have finally been painted. i was told, or rather, warned by the painter that the lacquer spray paint would be very potent and that we should definitely find somewhere to be besides our home for bascially the whole day. so i ventured out with the kids to the park where we were so incredibly hot that we had to walk on the trails in the woods in order to maintain a body temperature of under 100 degrees. here i am with a buggy for abram (that he LOVES) and then eli & caleb walking in their sandals. we did great on the beginner trails, as we have done these many times before. but as we were walking on the first one, there was a little side trail that looked fun where you could see the road, etc so i decided to brave it and try it out. little did i know this was an advanced trail that basically went straight down. imagine a mommy with a baby in a fisher-price buggy thing, a 2 year old screaming at the top and 5 year old about to lose it too as he pretends to be unafraid of the sudden drop. mind you, i have on 2 dollar flip flops and instead of walking down the cliff, i pretty much slid down with the buggy in hand trying to keep abram from flipping over or me from landing on top of him. then i left abram at the bottom and climbed my way back up to get my sceaming 2 year old as i held eli's hand and once again slid down the cliff. of course once we all were safely on level land, we all laughed about it until i looked up and realized that somehow we had to make it back up. thankfully, we ended up back on a trail that was more our speed and gradually made our way to the top. i will admit though that at one point, i thought i might have to use my cell phone to call for some back up! well, we left the park and then ventured to our friend's pool and spent the rest of the day relaxing and keeping cool in the horrible heat, until...we got the phone call that our house was fume-free and we could come back. HA!!! have you ever smelled fresh lacquer? just imagine putting cotton balls of finger nail polish remover up your nostrils times 100. it was nauseating to say the least. i was so afraid my reactive airway children would end up hospitalized, not to mention myself. jerry didn't seem to mind and said that it was simply a smell, not actual fumes. well, besides the fact that every time i woke up at night i thought someone was attacking me with finger nail polish remover, we all survived and now have beautiful book shelves. my advice to you...don't plan on returning to a home that has been painted with anything that requires a gas mask to paint. painters should have to be tested before they're allowed to drive after dealing with those kind of fumes. oh, and don't trust a husband that calls and says, "honey, it's much better now. you're safe to bring the kids home...it's just a 'smell'. " if you can taste it, it's not just smell!!

the great outdoors

the things i learned from our camping trip...
1. 5 year olds are totally infatuated with making/maitaining a fire.
2. daddy's are just as infatuated with making/maintaining a fire.
3. wading in a creek is a blast with little boys.
4. daddy's are very proud of catching crawdads with their bare hand.
5. no matter how clean a shower is, you still don't really feel "clean" at a campsite.
6. playing tracball is frustrating at first, but lots of fun once you've mastered the curve ball.
7. i have the best in-laws in the world.
8. a 2 year old can't take a nap in a tent.
9. kids can fall asleep mid-sentence when telling ghost stories at night.
10. "ghost" stories can turn into dinosaur stories when the story tellers are under the age of 5.
11. it's a lot easier to go down all of those steps to get into mccormicks creek than it is to go up.
12. being away from tv's, radios, computers, etc for a few days is very cleansing.
13. camp fires don't make wheezing babies breathe any better.
14. no matter how hard you try, you always come home constipated.
15. a captured secada that is confined to a bug catcher will die, but little boys think he's "just sleeping a lot".
16. chigger bites on a penis leave a little boy scratching like a dog with fleas.
17. finding the perfect walking stick is an art.
18. sidewalk chalk can become face/body paint.
19. mommies get a lot more reading done with no household chores to do.
20. i have the best family in the world.

why i love my boys

the big boys have already left with jerry for our camping trip...abram and i will join them tomorrow. so i'm left here in a temporarily quiet house and i started wondering what i ever did before i had them. i started thinking about all i would've missed out on had i not had these energetic, loving, little boys. it made me think about an excerpt from a book by beth moore called feathers from my nest. she says, "oh, little boys do love their mommas. i loved how he would hug my neck so hard sometimes i thought i'd burst an artery. i loved how he'd look at me every once in awhile with eyes sparkling like stars and say, 'you sure look pretty, mommy'. and i'd feel pretty". this made me think about all the things i love about my boys and so i thought i'd share a few...


I LOVE...how they smell after playing outside...finding pretend snakes in the couch cushions...how eli calls me "momma"...bedtime kisses...caleb's fascination with wearing hats...how they're not afraid of bugs...abram's big grin when he sees me come into his room in the morning...how only i can make the hurt go away...hearing caleb talk himself to sleep...how they smell after a bath...how they ask a million questions about anything & everything...reading bedtime stories...how much they adore their daddy...when they belly laugh so hard i think they'll cry...hearing eli tell someone that he loves them...watching eli help caleb......how caleb used to call me "nonnie"...when eli snuggles in my bed and uses my leg as his pillow...their excitement when they get to go to maw maw and paw paw's house...hearing caleb say "e-y-i"...seeing abram suck his thumb...hearing them sing songs about jesus...trimming their fingernails so that the dirt temporarily goes away...making cookies together...hearing eli talk to his imaginary friends...their fascination with construction equipment on the side of the road...how excited they get when they find a worm...seeing them wrestle with their daddy...when eli tells me "momma, you look cute, like a little girl"...hearing abram say "uh-oh"...caleb's big chocolate eyes...catching lightning bugs...how they love their "nee-nee's"...hearing abram talk in his crib in the morning...seeing my blue-eyed boys' eyes sparkle...playing at the park...seeing caleb's excitement over corn-on-the-cob...eating cookie dough together...when they nuzzle their head in my neck...their excitement about thunderstorms...when they act like best friends...but most of all, i love the way they love me.