Missing My Shadow--Finding a New One?

This has been a long week for dog lovers in our home.

We put DeJour to sleep on Tuesday. We feel we made the right decision even though she didn't "look" horrible that day. We asked the vet if there was anything we could do to help her. The vet told us that if she was unable to keep food down even with nausea medicine, she wouldn't last much longer. The vet was pleasantly surprised when we brought her in. She honestly thought DeJour wouldn't make it through the weekend, and she definitely didn't think she would look better on Tuesday than she did on Saturday. The fluid treatments I gave her made her feel okay and she wanted to eat and drink and act normal--but her body wasn't with her on that. The vet said by looking at her physically she would think she was getting better, but her blood work was the worst she'd ever seen.

I had been praying all weekend that God would let me know if she were in pain, that her time was near or if possible, that He would heal her. We had a great weekend--she acted more like herself than she had in weeks--running around the backyard, roughhousing with Jasmine, following me everywhere, greeting me with her little excited noise when I came home, going for short walks with me, etc. I thought God was answering my prayer by healing her. However, Tuesday rolled around and I realized that God was just allowing me to remember her as she was. Tuesday morning little tell-tale signs that the end was near started showing up. In addition to the vomiting and diarrhea, she was now having trouble getting in the dog door--there is a slight step up that she had never had a problem with before, but she was now hesitating on, she stumbled when she was heading up the stairs, she didn't want to leave her kennel, her eyes started twitching and most importantly, when I lay down with her I could hear barely audible little whimpering noises. The vet was just confirmation, we knew it was time.

Coming home afterwards was very hard. She wasn't there. You don't realize how much your dog means to you until they are not there anymore. DeJour was never very obtrusive, but she always greeted me at the door. Her not being there made the house feel empty. Honor noticed right away that we didn't bring her home. I had prepared a statement to tell her, but I was not prepared for her reaction.

"Mommy, where's DeJour?"
"Mommy and Daddy had to take DeJour to doggie heaven."
"When is she coming back?"
"She cannot come back home anymore."
Honor started sobbing--that was what I wasn't prepared for. "But I WANT DeJour to come back!"
I lost it. "I want DeJour to come back too!"

Thankfully Connor and Ariana didn't seem to mind too much that DeJour wasn't there--they've always been more attached to Jasmine. Honor always preferred DeJour because Jasmine licks too much.

I took Honor and Connor to their dress rehearsal for their dance recital Tuesday night and that took my mind off DeJour for a little while. When I came home, Daddy had removed DeJour's things from the house. Again the sense of emptiness. But I was able to hold myself together until it was time to put the kids to bed. See, DeJour was never active while the kids were up (unless we were going outside). She pretty much stayed in her kennel most of the day as long as the kids were up so nothing seemed too much out of the ordinary while they were still awake. But at nighttime, even at her sickest, she always followed me upstairs and waited outside their doors as I tucked them in.

And that is when I first started really missing my shadow. Just like my shadow, I never really thought too much about it, but she was always there. I could look down and be comforted by the sight of her always there. But Tuesday night she wasn't...and I felt lonely. I still feel lonely.
I had trouble sleeping Tuesday night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw DeJour and remembered she wasn't there. Getting up to use the restroom at night, I am reminded of how she would lie at the foot of our bed and wait for me to walk past her. When I did, she would quietly hold still unless it looked to her like I didn't see her, then she would sit up to get out of the way. She was always aware of where I was and had a 6th sense to know where I was going--always. She knew if I was leaving for just a couple minutes and would be coming back (like when I would have to run downstairs in the middle of the night for a bottle) she would wait for me where she was. If I were going downstairs to stay (like when I would nurse Samuel in the middle of the night and stay down there for an hour or more), she would follow me downstairs. Jasmine was always tripping me up, but DeJour was patient.

Tuesday was hard, but Wednesday was almost harder. We had to take Connor and Ariana to their weekly visit with their biological mother. My husband decided to come with us so we left Jasmine at home alone. We commented before we left that it would be the first time Jasmine was ever completely alone. She has always at least had another dog with her--always. When we came home, I wasn't greeted by Jasmine. I ran throughout the house yelling her name, hoping she had accidentally shut herself in a room. She wasn't there. After a few minutes, my husband came in with the kids and I told him that I couldn't find Jasmine. He went outside and sure enough, the gate was wide open...Jasmine had run away. Jasmine had never run away before--even though we'd left the gate unlatched for days without us realizing it. She was out looking for her family...and DeJour.

My husband immediately took off in the car looking for her. I called all the shelters, the sheriffs office, and the HOA...no one had reported a new English Springer Spaniel being found. Periodically I would run out in the backyard and yell her name...no response. My husband came home--no luck. I found some pictures of her and started walking the neighborhood yelling her name and asking anyone I saw if they'd seen her--including the garbage man. We were heartbroken. We could not handle losing two dogs in two days!

I went up and down the streets yelling her name as loudly as I could. Then I decided to try walking to our favorite local park. I got close to it and yelled her name. Seconds later I saw her running as fast as she could...the other direction! I was heartbroken. She didn't want to come home! I tried yelling her name again, but my throat was closing up and I couldn't yell very loud. My lips were dry so I couldn't whistle. All I could do was run. I ran as fast as I could after her. I was startled to see her stop in the yard of the house across the street from the park--it didn't seem like she was trying too hard to escape! She started looking around. I yelled her name again. She started running across the yard. I yelled her name again. This time she turned around and saw me. She ran as fast as she could over to me and about knocked me over jumping on me and licking me all over. She hadn't been running from me, she was running to where she thought I was--my voice had been echoing! I had never been so happy to see that dog in my life!

I forgot to bring a leash with me, but she followed me home nonetheless, happy to be found. She was muddy--we figure she went for a long swim at the golf course by our house--and her poor little feet were burned from running on the hot cement all day, but otherwise she was none the worse for wear. But she was sad. We figured she was just tired from her long day--she acts this way sometimes after hunting.

Thursday she just didn't seem right. My husband went out and bought a giant 2 foot long bone for her (much like what she used to get when she was a puppy:), but she wouldn't eat it. All she wanted to do was lay down. Daddy took her to the vet Thursday afternoon--she needed a checkup anyway--but other than a slight ear infection (she ALWAYS has a slight ear infection!), and sore feet, she is in perfect health. Thursday night she refused to eat her food. She has been laying at my feet non-stop. She refuses to leave my side. But the most upsetting thing is she hasn't licked me since Tuesday! I never thought I would be upset by that! But licking is as much a part of Jasmine as swimming is to fish! She has always licked me non-stop--it is her most defining characteristic!.

Friday the kids and I played outside. Jasmine walked out in the yard when I did, but as soon as I sat down, she came over and lay next to me. Jasmine lives to run around the yard. Last night I took Honor and Connor to their dance recital. Daddy ended up staying home with Samuel and Ariana. He told me that Jasmine had lain by the front door all evening waiting for our return. She just seems sad.

Today we finally caught a few glimpses of "our" Jasmine. She roughhoused with Daddy for a couple of minutes, but she ended it...normally Daddy has to tell her it is enough. The "joy" on her face is gone. I thought I missed DeJour, but Jasmine misses her even more (if that is possible).

My husband has convinced me that we need another dog. Not to replace DeJour--that is not possible, but to have a companion for Jasmine. At first I was insulted by the insinuation that I could love another dog. But then Jasmine started acting depressed and the idea took hold on me. Those of you who know me well, know that I LOVE animals, so once my mind wrapped around the idea that it would be good for Jasmine, I began to think that I could possibly love another dog...although there will never be another DeJour.

We started looking at breeds. Immediately I wanted a German Shepherd. DeJour was a German Shepherd mix and she had inherited all of the good qualities that the breed exhibits: loyalty, intelligence, calm demeanor, protectiveness, etc. But as we researched the breed, we decided that it wasn't for us--simply because it is known to have several health problems...DeJour had inherited some of these as well: allergies, nervous shedding, and digestive problems.

Daddy wanted another springer, but one springer in the family is good enough for me. I love Jasmine, but I want a calm dog. Jasmine is calm right now, but her playful side will have to show up sooner or later and I want a dog to balance that out. That left me not knowing what I want. Well, I knew what I wanted, just didn't know how to get it! I want a large dog (no toys for me!) that is calm indoors, is excellent with small children, affectionate, but not overly so, loyal, and a good guard dog. I would also eventually like to get back into agility training my dog and doing therapy dog work again. So I took an online dog selector quiz....there had to be another breed out there that fit those characteristics and wasn't known for their health problems! Out of all the dogs that it pulled up for me, the one that stood out the best was the Bouvier des Flandres. In fact, the only thing I didn't like about this breed was the amount of grooming required. I asked around and one lady told me this story:

My sister and brother-in-law have had 2 bouviers and loved them both as well. In fact, they are the reason we bought a bouvier. We were walking with the dog and my 2 nephews one day on a golf course and a golden retriever came running towards the kids, the bouvier ran tot he dog and put iti on it's back (not hurting it) and held it down until my brother-in-law could get there. He was protecting the kids. It sold us immediately. [Our dog,] Keegan is the same way. VERY loyal and VERY protective. She is very friendly to people she knows and/or people she can tell we are comfortable with, but if she gets a bad feeling about someone, she lets you know. For example, we had a pool guy come over who she wasn't very fond of and she dug all four paws into the ground a barked ferociously at him. Their bark is deep and loud.

She said more, but that settled it for me. This will be our next dog. I have gone from thinking about it, to accepting it, to anticipating a new dog.

Even now as I type this, I still get choked up thinking about DeJour, but I am beginning to feel ready to move on. It is not as hard for me hearing her name mentioned by the kids (mostly Connor) throughout the day ("Mommy loves Honor and Connor and Ariana and Samuel and Daddy and Jasmine and DeJour!", "Jasmine loves me and DeJour loves me!", "We have TWO dogs...Jasmine and DeJour!" and Honor's "Mommy, I want DeJour to come back!").

I will not be ready for a few more months (I'm NOT that accepting of it yet!), but my heart is slowly healing bit by bit and my endless love of furry creatures is starting to take back over.

But, boy I miss my shadow!

Ode to DeJour

Who will never be able to read this, but deserves a post anyway...

DeJour is my first (and best-behaved) "child".

I picked her out of the animal rescue league 8 years ago. She had been there for 5 month--she had been brought in with her mom and litter mates and was the last one left. I was told that at 6 months she would have been put to sleep because that was all the longer they could keep an "unwanted" dog. I actually went there looking for a dog I had seen on tv, but that dog had been adopted early in the day. So, not expecting to fall in love, I decided I would go ahead and just "look" at the other dogs to see if any of them interested me.

I walked back to the cages and was greeted by tons of adorable dogs. All of them were barking and jumping on the cages...all of them, but one--DeJour. She just calmly sat by the door of the cage and looked at me with those huge brown eyes as if to say, "I'm ready when you are." I knew she was the one for me right away. They had named her "D.O.G." I thought that was a stupid name. I wanted an "exotic" sounding name, but something that was cheerful. I started playing around with synonyms for "sun", which led me to synonyms for "daytime", which made me think of the French term for "of the day"--DeJour. So DeJour literally was the "Dog of the day".

I had went with my roommate at the time, but DeJour was my dog from the very beginning. She never left my side. She slept in my room that first night with the door open. The next morning my roommate walked down the hallway, past my door, and DeJour barked at her. She was protective from the start.

She was the easiest dog to train. All I had to do was point and, as if she could read my mind, DeJour would go to where I pointed. If I snapped my fingers, she would sit down. If I pointed to the floor when I snapped, she would lay down. If I held my hand up, she would stay. Anything I wanted her to do, she would do. I took her to obstacle course training and she excelled in that. Our last year in Iowa, she became a therapy dog. People loved balancing treats on her nose and giving her orders. She is so calm and gentle that even people who are typically afraid of dogs had no fear of DeJour.

DeJour is the best type of dog. Most of the time she will choose to lie in her kennel out of the way. As long as she can see me, she is fine. If I go upstairs, she will quietly follow...and then lay down on the floor at the foot of the bed. Often you forget she is there since she is so silent. I honestly don't ever remember scolding her....she's never needed it. I remember one time I went to a Bible study and I brought her along. There were bowls of food all over the floor. She walked right past them and didn't even sniff them. My mom and I took her with us to the Tulip Festival a few years ago. We had to ride the shuttle from the parking lot to the festival. She is a relatively big dog so I was worried how that would work, but she she chose to lay down under my feet under the bench seat. No one who got on after us even knew she was there. When it was time to move down to AZ, DeJour rode the entire trip in between Honor's car seat and a bunch of suitcases. There wasn't even room for her to turn around properly--she mostly just sat there leaning against the seat. Again, she was so quiet, you wouldn't have known she was there.

However, like I said, she is the best type of dog. When I NEED her, she is always there. Every time I have cried, she gently comes over and lays her head on my lap. Not in an annoying way, but in a comforting way. You could say she was simply wanting to get the salt from my tears, but I honestly don't remember her ever licking me without me asking her to...and even then it was hesitantly done...DeJour is not a licker.

Before we were married, my husband told me that when we got married, DeJour was going to have to be an outside dog. He was convinced that she would actually be happiest outside. He did not know my dog. DeJour is happiest being within 5 feet from me. He soon figured this out. When we would let her outside, she would go and do her business...and then sit by the door and wait. She would literally sit there for hours if we let her. So he realized that she needed to be inside and he was okay with that.

After we were married, my husband decided that there was no way DeJour would be a good enough guard dog and he worried about leaving me alone when he had to work nights. Well he soon changed his mind about that! One morning, shortly after we were married, my husband came home early from work. DeJour was not used to him yet and was not expecting him home. He quietly turned the key in the lock and then stopped. From the other side of the door he could hear a low growl, growing louder as the dog slowly walked closer to the door. He told me that, had he not known it was DeJour, he would have thought it was a huge German Shepherd or a Rottweiler and he was scared. From then on he had little doubts about whether DeJour would protect me if necessary.

I've never needed to use a leash on her (I do, because its the law, but I don't NEED to). She naturally falls in right at my feet--happy to go wherever I go. After dark I always take her around the corner to the mailbox with me (without a leash on...shhh). I know that she will keep me safe and never leave my side.

DeJour has always had "delicate" health--and that has been her only downfall. When she gets nervous she sheds...A LOT. She has always hated to get dirty. She won't walk in wet grass. She has allergies--I didn't even know a dog COULD get allergies! Her allergies cause her to scratch at her eyes until they are rubbed raw. It is not so bad here in AZ though thankfully. She has also always had a weak stomach. At least once a week she would vomit and it is not unusual for her to spit up her food if she ate too fast. But being the "lady" that she is, she always does it outside so we usually don't know she's doing it unless we happen to look (we have a dog door).

Which is why we didn't notice that she was getting severely dehydrated until she lost weight really quickly (around 10 pounds over the space of a week). I took her to the vet yesterday and they gave her an IV drip and nausea medicine. When I took her home, she was looking like her old self, but she didn't want to eat very much of her special dog food the vet gave us. First thing this morning I got a phone call from the vet. DeJour's blood work had come in. She has had kidney failure. The dr. asked me to bring her back in this morning for some more fluids and to see if what they did yesterday had helped. Her levels yesterday were 207 and 8 (High normal are 27 and 1.7). Her levels today were 130+ (that is all the higher their machine can test) and 6.5). They checked her urine, she does not have an infection--there is nothing antibiotics can do. The doctor told me that I could hospitalize her, but with her levels being as high as they are, there really isn't much hope. I took home some fluids to put in her skin over the weekend to see if there is any improvement, but unless some miracle happens, I am to call on Tues. and schedule her to be put to sleep because they tell me she is in a lot of pain.

I love my dog. And I will be there with her when it is time. And I know she will trustingly go with me and lay down when asked to and she will look at me with those big, brown eyes and say, "I'm ready when you are."

New Honorisms

Again from Word World:

Snug as a bug in a:

Mommy: "J...j..j..j.. U-G -"
Honor: "JUG!"
Mommy: "M...mmmmm...U-G-"
Honor: "MUG!"
Mommy: "H...h...h...h.. U-G-"
Honor: "HUG!"
Mommy: "T...t...t...t.. U-G-"
Honor: "TUG!"
Mommy: "R...rrrrrr...U-G-"
Honor: "ROCKET!"


-------------------------------------------

"Mommy, I have an owie on my booboo! I need a banana for my owie!"...thinks about it for a second..."Oh yeah...I need a BAND AID....silly Honor!"

Anonymous

All right all you "anonymous" viewers out there...I know there must be millions of you...you are now able to leave comments on my blog. You can thank my mom for this. She always wants to comment, but has a difficult time signing in--and then, for some weird reason, when she DOES sign in she comes up as "May". Sooooo...to make Mom's life easier, I have opened up the comments field so she doesn't have to sign in. So I expect to receive more comments from now on..... ;-P

Traveling

Okay...I will admit it. I am addicted to the travel aisle at Wal-Mart. Every time I go down that aisle I find a new "necessity" that must be added to my bag of unending baby supplies otherwise known as my purse. Today I added a hand sanitizing gel in a conveniently pen-sized container. It advertised that it was good for 70 sprays...how exciting! I also love my travel-sized Lysol spray...I use it every time the kids use a public bathroom because they refuse to let me put a toilet-seat cover on the toilet. I have travel sized lotion, travel sized soap, travel wet-wipes, a travel first aid kit and even a travel toothbrush in my purse (although as I am typing this I am taking the toothbrush out because it got travel sized hand-sanitizing gel on it). It is an addiction that I don't see myself quitting in the near future. So if you are ever out and about and find yourself in need of a tiny gadget, you know who to ask.

Oh...I just realized I'm out of travel-sized shout wipes! I'll have to go down the travel aisle again the next time I go to Wal-Mart....

QUIET!!!

The girls make a lot of noise in the morning. They wake up with the sunshine and immediately start running around and screaming and having a good old time. The problem is....we don't want Samuel and Connor to wake up with the sunshine. (I can't wait for our sunscreens to get put in so "the sunshine" doesn't wake them anymore!) So I have to go in and tell the girls to be quiet.

"Girls!" I say in the whisper hiss that all parents have perfected. "You NEED to be QUIET! You are GOING to wake up SAMUEL and CONNOR and then you are going to get in TROUBLE!"

"Okay Mommy!" The girls dutifully whisper back.

10 minutes later I hear more screaming coming from their room...

"Girls! WHAT did I SAY???" The girls got in trouble. "Now NO MORE NOISE from this room. Do you understand?"

"Yes Mommy!"

10 minutes later I hear more screaming coming from the girls' room. But THIS time, I am pleasantly surprised to hear Honor telling Ariana, "SHHHH...Be quiet! SHHHHHHH...." and then I hear a scream that tells me Ariana was physically assulted in some way. I rush in there.

"She pushed me!" Ariana immediately complains.

Honor runs to her bed expecting to be in trouble. She is pleasantly surprised when instead I come over and give her a big hug. "Honor, I am VERY proud of you for being quiet. I think it is great that you were encouraging Ariana to be quiet. I heard you telling her to 'SHHHH'. I am proud of you for being a good big sister and encouraging her to do the right thing." Honor is now beaming from ear to ear. "BUT....you are NOT Mommy. You are NOT in charge of her. You are not allowed to push Ariana, or hit Ariana if she doesn't do what you say. You just do the right thing and she will follow your example."

"Okay Mommy."

"Now girls you need to be QUIET."

I take two steps away from the door and Ariana starts crying because I left the room. Honor immediately starts SHHHing her. She takes her new "duty" very seriously...after all, Mommy was VERY proud of her...

I enter into my room smiling to myself and hear, louder than anything thus far,

"MOMMY! ARIANA IS NOT BEING QUIET!" followed by some knocking on the door. "MOOOOOOOMMMMMMY! ARIANA IS BEING NOISY!"

***sigh***

Honorisms

Last night at dinner, Honor wanted to try some of Daddy's BBQ sauce. Daddy told her that it was too "hot" meaning spicy:

"It is not too hot...I have a little tongue...not a big mouth like yours"


Sometimes I don't make it into Honor's bedroom early enough in the morning. When that happens, she likes to make "surprises" for me:

"Look, Mommy! I made water on the floor! But don't worry. I put a towel over it so its okay!"


This morning Honor was trying to educate me on the fact that she is no longer a baby like Samuel:

"When I was a little girl, I was a baby like Samuel, and when I was a baby girl like Samuel, I grew up to be a little girl, and when I was a baby boy like Samuel, I crawled like Samuel, and now I am a big girl so I walk."


Potty training is an interesting time for children. They are curious about all aspects of the process:

"Do you bend over and touch your toes when you wipe your bottom?"

Let's Play Checkers

Honor was all set to spend a little time with just me and her. She had set up a lid to one of her toy boxes on the table and had spread plastic easter egg halves all over the "board". She wanted to play checkers (again, she got that off of VeggieTales...they play checkers on the "Sheerluck Holmes" DVD). So I sat down and jumped the eggs all over the board, periodically shouting "I Win!"

Eventually she decided that she wanted to connect the egg halves so now there were plastic easter eggs all over the board. She started to stir them around. Then she asked me if I wanted to play "Cheppers". I said, "you mean CheCKers." "No. That was BEFORE. Now they are eggs so we need to play ChePPers. I win!"

Rhyme Time

...warning crude humor

As I've mentioned before, my kids LOVE the show "Word World". Well, in addition to spelling words, the show also teaches kids how to rhyme. Honor and Connor love to go around rhyming now. They are pretty good at it. The problem comes when Connor plays the game. He says the rhymes correctly, but they don't often come out sounding the way he means for them to sound...he is not the best annunciator in the world.

Today the kids went around rhyming "key".

"key, tea, G, me, sea!"

And then they rhymed "map".

"map, lap, cap, tap!"

And then they rhymed "dip"...but they could only think of one word that rhymed with dip. Honor said it correctly...Connor was a little harder to understand. They were really proud of this particular rhyme for some reason and kept repeating it throughout lunch over and over again. I didn't say ANYTHING.

"dip, SHIP!"

Playing With Daddy

Daddy likes to roughhouse with the kids (especially Connor) after dinner/before bedtime. He knocks them down with pillows; picks them up and throws them on the couch; lies down so they can attack him; lifts them up to the ceiling; pretends to cross swords with Connor...you know, normal Daddy roughhousing stuff. Well, tonight out of the clear blue, Honor stood up on the couch and started shouting "We're the Army of the Lord! We're going to get you!" Then I realized that Connor was shouting "Get back Goliath!" So I jumped into the fun...

"David...come here...let's go get a stone for you to throw at Goliath!"
We went into the front room and picked up a purple, foam ball--the kind you could throw at someone's head and not hurt them in any way. Being the responsible adult that I am, I explained to Connor that this was the ONLY ball we could throw at Daddy's head...

Back to the living room where "Goliath" was attacking "the Israelites" (Honor and Ariana).

"I will fight you Goliath!" shouted David and he threw the "stone". He missed. Goliath knocked him down with a pillow.

Role Change--Honor picked up the ball and became "David".

"What, am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?" Goliath roars with laughter.

"You are not a dog. I come at you not with sticks, but in the name of the God of Israel who this day shall help me defeat you!" (Yes...Honor really did say all that. We watch VeggieTales, "Dave and the Giant Pickle" A LOT.)

David threw the ball and hit Goliath in the shoulder. Goliath dutifully fell to the ground dead. The Israelites cheered. It was a great victory.

Role Change--Connor picked up Goliath's "sword" (make believe) and became "David"...and chopped off Goliath's head. We always finish the story....

Thus ended roughhouse time with Daddy for the night. Mommy is hoping tomorrow night we can reenact a "calmer" Bible story...maybe something industrious like Noah building the Ark....

Prince Caspian

GREAT Movie!!! I highly enjoyed it! I liked it better than the first one!

The star of the movie, Prince Caspian, played by Ben Barnes is soon to replace Orlando Bloom as the pre-teen heartthrob of choice....heck, he's up there on my favorite heartthrobs list! :-D He did a great job in this movie--definitely has the "look" down--you know, the look that says "she's the most magnificent girl in the universe and I would do anything just to be by her side"...the one that every woman secretly (or in my case, not so secretly) desires for their husband to use on her occasionally.

Side Note: it is sad that I am now older than the newest heartthrobs out there...I think it is still okay for me to think they're cute, right???...wait...better go ask my husband ;-).

Back to the movie. The other stand-out character I thought was Susan Pevensie, played by Anna Popplewell. She had a really fun role this time. I actually didn't like her so much in The Chronicles of Narnia--I didn't think she was that great of an actress and I felt she made the character too snooty. In Caspian, she is still "snooty" in some respects, but she does a much better acting job and her character has evolved into a tough and strong heroine.

I think it is interesting that some of the critics I have read say that this is less "religious" than the first one. One critic wrote:

The religious fervor and hype which attached itself to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has burned itself out. You won’t see Prince Caspian shown at Church’s in place of Sunday sermons, they’ve already taken what they wanted from Narnia and now we’re simply left with the magic of C.S. Lewis’s imaginative, fantasy world.

I felt that this was MORE religious than the first one in many ways. It is kind of like what happens after you accept Christ as your Savior. When troubles come into our lives, who do we lean on? As they show in the movie, they try to lean on ANYONE and ANYTHING except Aslan and only when they seek Him do they receive the help that they need.

The other message is how to tell people about God. Sometimes people won't believe He exists until He "roars in their face". There is a line from Lucy when asked by Aslan why she didn't come to Him when she knew He was there and could help and she says something along the lines of "I was scared to come by myself." I think that is the situation with a lot of Christians. We know that God is there, we know that we are supposed to tell people about Him, yet we are scared that no one will believe us.

There will be many comparisons to "Lord of the Rings" movies simply because of the way many of the "war" scenes are enacted. My husband felt it right away. This movie should not be compared with LOTR. It is made for a different audience--a younger audience. In many ways it is just as good, but it is not an epic.

If you are wanting a good family film with a great story and no sex, cursing or bloody violence (there are a lot of war scenes, but no blood...VERY tastefully done!)...this is a great movie! I HIGHLY recommend it!

Tell Me About God

Connor also loves God. We have budding theologian on our hands!

"God loves us."

"God loves me, and Honor, and Samuel, and Ariana, and Daddy and you!"

"God takes care of me."

"Jesus is God."

"Jesus died on the cross."

"Jesus went up to the sky."

"God made me!"

"God made me, and Honor and Samuel, and Ariana and Daddy and you and Jasmine and DeJour!"

(In response to a cartoon where they were talking about many false gods). "God is only ONE God. There aren't TWO gods." (I don't remember telling him that one....)

"I am special and God loves me very much!" (Yes, Veggietales is doing the trick!)

Connor is My Favorite

I know...you aren't supposed to have favorite children...but Connor is my favorite--at least today :-D.

"Mommy, you're BEAUTIFUL!"

"I love you Mommy!"

"Mommy, you're my best friend!"

"What are we doing today?" "Nothing, honey. We're staying home today." "But Mooommmyy! We have to get you a present!"

Happy Birthday to Me

So here is how I spent my birthday. I had a wonderful day!

The kids woke me up at 6:00. I chose to stay in bed until 6:30. Then I chose to take a bath for an hour...yes, I made the kids stay in their room for almost 2 hours because I didn't feel like getting them up, but they have toys...and it was my birthday!

I got the kids up and gave them breakfast. They remembered it was my birthday and kept asking me when my party was going to be---they wanted cake. I told them Mommy's party was different then their party, but they could have cake after dinner.

We went to the library. The kids had a blast! I read 5 books to them and then checked out 4 books for them and 1 for me--"The New Strong-Willed Child" by Dr. Dobson. I have already learned that Honor is not a strong-willed child according to Dr. Dobson's description...or she is and I am already handling it the "right" way (hee, hee). Oh well...maybe if I finish the book I will learn some more tips and tricks.

After we finished with our books, we went outside and played in the playground. The library has a great playground--clean and built for different age groups. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. They had a 4-way teeter totter kind of like this one except with little animals to ride on. Honor took one look at it and said, "Look Mommy! One for Samuel, one for Connor, one for Ariana and one for me! Make them ride it Mommy!" Only Samuel was willing to "ride" it with her--and he wasn't much fun.

After playing on the playground, we took a walk through the "magical forest" (a little bit of wilderness that the sidewalk passes through to get back to the parking lot), scared out some lizards and looked for crickets. The kids had fun "escaping" to the other side.

Then I got the kids McDonald's for lunch--no work for me...it was my birthday!

Then they took a nap and I sat outside and played Sudoku for 2 hours.

Then I had to take Connor and Honor to the dance studio to get their pictures taken in their "costumes" for the recital coming up on May 30th-31st. They did so good! Connor was the center of the picture since he is the only boy in the class. They posed just as they were told and smiled on cue. Some of the other little girls had problems obeying so I was especially proud of them. :-D

Then we went out to dinner at the Outback. I wanted to take my family out for dinner a. because I didn't want to cook or clean and b. because I wanted to show off how cute my kids are! :-D My husband didn't think it was nearly as much fun as I did. But the kids did fairly well. I asked for a table for 4 with 2 highchairs so they sat us in a booth in the corner and put 2 highchairs at the end. That didn't work. Neither Samuel or Ariana could reach the table! So I ended up having Ariana sit in the middle of me and Honor. It was a bit of a hassle because we were crowded in the booth because we had to make sure little Mr. Grabby Hands (a.k.a. Samuel) didn't jab a knife in his eyes or stick his hands in ketchup or throw plates on the floor, but surprisingly enough the kids actually ate their dinner. And of course I ordered cake for dessert for all of us to share (well a brownie). The kids had great fun at the "party".

Today Daddy is taking me out for my birthday. Our plan is to go see the movie "Prince Caspian", go to the furniture store to pick out a big, cushy, overstuffed reading chair for our bedroom for my present, and then go out to dinner. I am so blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law who is willing to come over so we can have time to ourselves! I'm having a great "birthday"! :-D

I Am 29 Years Old...

And I am proud of it! I got several calls (and a comment from chelleybutton) wishing me "Happy Birthday" and then mentioning that this is the last year of my 20's. With several joking comments about being 29 for the next 10 years and hiding my true age so no one knows that next year is *gasp* 30! But that will not happen. I am proud of being 29!

Actually that is a lie. I am not proud of being 29. I am kind of embarrassed by it actually. It is a "young" number. I never outgrew that "childish" desire of being older....and I don't see this changing any time soon. I can't wait to put the "1/2" behind my age. I subscribe to the philosophy that with age comes wisdom....so right now I am very unwise. Or at least I feel like others think so--when they ask my opinion on things I often feel like a little kid giving advice to a "grown up". I feel like if I only had that "twenty" out of my age I might actually become a "grown up" too.

I think part of this has to do with the fact that I look young. Last year a salesman came to my door and asked for my mom. When I told him that I was the mom, he told me that he thought I was 16 or 17. He was either serious or thought he was flattering me...I couldn't tell. But it wasn't flattering. I have 4 children...I don't want someone to think I'm 16! I FEEL like I'm in my 40's...I'm often surprised by the youthful person looking back at me in the mirror. I have never felt like I was the same age as my peers. Possibly because my peers always seemed to pursue activities that had little meaning (at least to me). They always seemed so short-sighted in their pursuits, where as I always thought about the future.

Which is why I guess I don't mind getting older--I always think there will be a future and I'm excited about it. Of course I don't rely on the future--God could choose to take me home 5 minutes from now--tomorrow is not guaranteed, but I can still plan for what I will do in 5 years, in 10 years, in 20 years and so on. And I am excited to see if all of my plans will work out. I can't wait to see how my kids will grow up. I have plans for trips and cruises "when the kids are older". I'm already planning out my "retirement"...which includes working in a flower shop--I don't know why...I've just always wanted to work in a flower shop when I "retire". And of course, when I am older, someone might actually think I'm "wise".

So when someone asks me my age and I am close, I have always said the next year...I have been "29" for a few months now. I think I will turn 30 in December...

You Say Its Your Birthday...

Its my birthday too, Yeah! (The singing bear at Showbiz Pizza song....probably belongs to someone else, I just remember the singing bear band singing this song....)

Yes, this is a shameless plug that today is my 29th birthday! Woohoo! So I am now requesting your "Happy Birthday" comments....

come on...wish me a Happy Birthday...

PLEASE...

why haven't you commented yet????

Its only my birthday for 24 hours and you've already lost 8 hours!

Come on....comment...

comment....


comment....

okay...I'm waiting....


feed my comment addiction please...

Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to MEEEEEEEEEEEE
Happy Birthday to me!

Our House is Being Painted

"Moooommmy....there's a man painting our window." (Honor. Said as Mommy and Daddy were upstairs putting the kids to naptime--we didn't know he was here.)

"Mommy! Are we going in our new house?" (Connor. We had to pull into the neighbor's driveway to avoid splashing paint on our truck.)

"Our new house!" (Honor. As we walked across the street to our house from the neighbor's house.)

"I like that music!" (Connor. Speaking of the mariachi music the painters like to blare outside our front door.)

They've Got My Back

I always think its funny when the kids feel the need to stick up for me (although I try my best not to let it show). It is usually simple things like when my husband teases me, "Look at all the salad Mommy eats, I think she's turning into a rabbit kids."--Connor will say something along the lines of "Don't say that word Daddy! Don't tease Mommy!" in a very grown-up voice. Or when I'm playing a video game and I mess up and my husband takes the controller to show me how to do it "right" and Honor pipes up, "Give that back to Mommy! It is Mommy's turn!" Even Ariana pipes in occasionally--especially to Samuel. If Samuel bats at me (while trying to stand up), Ariana steps right in and yells, "stop it baby!" I've noticed they don't offer Daddy the same courtesy...or maybe I just don't give them the same opportunities that he does.

Actually come to think of it, my kids are kind of bossy.....

Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Okay...just curious. Am I the only one out there that brushes my teeth for 4 minutes at a time? I know I brush for at least 4 minutes because my toothbrush has a timer that vibrates at 2 minutes and I always go through at least 2 vibrations because I never feel clean enough with just one. Dentists say that how often you brush is not as important as how long you brush so I must be hitting records with both! Before I got a timer, I used to brush each tooth 16 times--and yes I would mentally count. Do I have some sort of obsessive compulsive disease?

I am also curious if I am the only one out there that forgets if I've shampooed my hair or not. I think I shampoo my hair at least twice every shower because by the time I am done rinsing I forget if I actually WASHED it or just thought about washing it. So I have to re-wash it just to be sure before putting my conditioner in. To be fair, the shower is about the only time that I have completely to myself to do any kind of thinking so I do A LOT of concentrated thinking in the shower (I take fairly short showers)--just not about what I should be thinking about--actually taking a shower.

New Template

Hey People!!!

Next time just TELL me my blog is hurting your eyes!!! :-P You can all thank chelleybutton for enlightening me on the subject...

It Figures

Arizona only gets 5 overcast days a year (I'm sure that is a fact!). It figures that the ONE day we plan on having our house painted is one of those days.....

Oops!

So I accidentally made a tiny, little (read that "huge, giant") dent in the garage door while backing up our Yukon. My husband was VERY angry ("do you know how much garage doors cost????"). But don't worry...I made him believe it was all his fault, complimented him on his workmanship and ended on a bright note. "You were mad at me for coming home at 5:30 instead of 5 so I was trying to hurry! Then you parked your van RIGHT at the edge of the driveway and your mustang was too close to my side so I had to come in at an awkward angle! Then someone started to drive by and I didn't want to make them wait too long so in my rush to get out of the street at the bad angle I pushed the gas and made a 'tiny' dent. But you're so good with tools that it shouldn't be anything at all for you to fix it. There wasn't even a scratch on the Yukon!" Smooth.

Steph's blog

Everyone should watch the videos on Steph's blog. They are powerful. I look at my children and think how blessed I am and how grateful I am that they are being cared for...and I want to do more. I'll be praying about this. I hope you will too.

When it is lunchtime at our house, lunch lovers gather around our table for their favorite meal of the day. This afternoon I secretly switched out their favorite Ritz crackers for what I deemed to be a "healthier alternative", Roasted Vegetable Ritz crackers. Can Ariana tell the difference?

Excitedly climbing into her highchair after seeing Mommy grab the red, Ritz box, Ariana remarks "I want crackers Mommy!"
*bite* "Ooohh...icky Mommy!"
no response
"Mommy! icky Mommy!"
no response
"Mommy! I don't want snack Mommy!" holding them out to me.
no response
"Mommy...its icky Mommy!" throws them on the floor.

Yep...not quite like the Folgers' commercials of old.

ARE EAR INFECTIONS CONTAGIOUS?

Dr Sears:

No, the bacteria inside the ear causing the infection are not contagious. The cold virus that can lead to an ear infection is contagious. Oftentimes, if the ear infection occurs a week after the cold begins, the child is no longer contagious.

Dr Greene:

Ear infections themselves are not contagious. Nevertheless, the upper respiratory infections that often set up ear infections are quite contagious.

The same upper respiratory virus might spread throughout a group of children. They might all catch colds, but only those who are otitis-prone might end up with ear infections. Nevertheless, these ear infections might all be caused by different bacteria and respond to different antibiotics!

Dr. Steele

Ear infections are not contagious because the fluid that is infected is well isolated behind the ear drum.

Dr. Daddy: (in a sarcastic voice)

"Don't go play with Johnny...You might catch his ear infection!"

So the consensus is ear infections are NOT contagious. So riddle me this...

1. Samuel got a double ear infection the Sunday before last
2. Luke (who had been playing with Samuel on Thursday) got an ear infection last Tuesday
3. Ariana started feeling sick on Thursday. Tuesday we went to the doctor and she had a double ear infection (and possible strep throat)
4. Evie started acting irritable over the weekend. Went to the doctor yesterday and has an ear infection

Thankfully Connor and Honor aren't feeling sick at all, BUT... I've been having a slight pain in both of my ears and some drainage down my throat for a couple of days now. I thought I was being a hypochondriac and overreacting to some mild allergies however this morning I am extremely dizzy and my ears are really hurting. I am going to the doctor as soon as Daddy comes home...I think I have an ear infection.



UPDATE:

I went to the doctor and apparently I have allergies. These are causing a lot of fluid to build up behind my ear drum which is making me dizzy, but although it is a little pink, it is not yet infected. They gave me a shot and a prescription for prednizone and if I don't feel better in 2 days I am supposed to get a prescription for Zyrtec filled (antibiotics). So....no "official" ear infection, but close!

If the Walls Had Ears...

Things heard at my house this morning:

"Connor, stop shooting webs at your sisters!"

"Look Mommy! Its a rectangle! There are two rectangles!" (Honor referring to the gaping hole left in their wood blinds from where the girls' broke off the sides)

"Honor and Connor, stop shooting webs at each other and eat your Cheerios!"

"Mommy you have blue eyes like Corbin! They are circles! My eyes are circles too!" (Connor)

"Mommy, Ariana locked the door." (said while Mommy was in the closet getting clothes for the day. Mommy spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get out of the room since there are no long, skinny, pointy things in the girls' room for which to pop the lock. Luckily one of the stuffed bears on the shelf had a fishing pole.....)

Sick of Deceivers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sick of everywhere I look seeing people bash Christians/Christianity. Or what is worse is people changing it to sound "bad".

Silencing Christians


And even worse than that is all of the people out there who "dilute" Christianity to make it more "welcoming" to people...God is love (He is) and so it doesn't matter what you believe or who you are because God will forgive you (He will), you don't really need Christ because God will love you no matter what--it's fine if you believe in Him, but it's not necessary to get to Heaven (WHAT WAS THAT?????). It is good to know that this is nothing new...Thank you God for giving us examples of what to look for in the Bible.

2 Peter 1:16- 2:3
16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words;

2 Peter 3:15-18
as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

1 John 2:20-23
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

1 John 4:1-6
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

RATINGS???

I just noticed that you can rate my individual blogs now....what is up with that??? AND you ALL better rate each of them "5"s! :-D

Middle School Humor

I give Samuel a bottle while I am making the other kids' breakfast. Today I looked over and noticed he had thrown his empty bottle on the floor. I flippantly remarked, "Is Samuel done with his bottle already???" The IMMEDIATE response from Samuel, "brrrrp!" Yep, that about answers it.

It's Elementary, My Dear Watson....

You know that Ariana is sick when:

• She falls asleep during breakfast, lunch and dinner
• She screams and panics when Mommy leaves the room (after the Motrin wears off and until the new Motrin kicks in) until Mommy finally gives in and sleeps on her floor from 1 am until 3 am
• She TELLS you she has an owie and points to her ear

And the number one way you know she is REALLY sick:

• She refuses to eat the chocolate chip cookie Daddy offers her for breakfast
  

Bunk Bed Construction Conversation...

...or Commands From Honor....


"Daddy, go move your mustang so that you can work on Connor's space shuttle."

"You can work on the space shuttle, but you need to be very careful."

"After you are done working on the space shuttle, you need to mow the lawn so we can play outside. Don't forget to pick up the poopies."

You Are Driving Me Nuts!!!!

There are days when I wish I could scream that at my kids. Today is one of those days...and the kids have only been "up" for 45 minutes...

At approximately 6:00 this morning I hear screaming and banging in the girls' room. In a bleary-eyed stupor, I walk into their room and tell them that they are being WAY too loud and they need to get back into bed...even though the sun is up, it is NOT time to be awake yet. I can't wait for my sunscreens to be installed! I head back to my nice, warm bed. Within minutes I hear yelling and playing and "SHHHHH" from the girls' room. I put a pillow over my head and attempt to go back to sleep.

Around 7:00 I hear extremely loud banging in the girls' room. I go in and tell them that they can be awake now, but they need to be quiet. "We can play quietly, Mommy!" Honor says, emphatically shaking her head up and down like a bobbing-head doll. I go back to my room and before I can even reach my bed to relax for a couple of minutes before taking a shower, the banging continues. I ignore it. I head to my retreat and play Soduko for 15 minutes. Then I take a shower. I listen to happy babbling coming from Samuel's room through the baby monitor as I brush my teeth and get dressed.

It is now 7:45. I walk into the girls' room and almost turn around to call for Emergency Disaster Relief. In the 45 minutes from the time I last visited, the girls took their mattresses off of their beds and took all of their stuffed animals and sheets and blankets and spread them all over the floor. Ariana was diaperless and climbing on the top of the bookshelf in the corner. Honor was sitting on top of her squashed down tent. There were a few "puddles" on the floor. I make their beds, place towels on the puddles, and have the girls pick up their stuffed animals.

It is now 8:00. I have Ariana take her diaper downstairs and throw it away. I get Connor and Samuel up and head downstairs. "Mommy, I put my pajamas on all by myself!" Connor announces. "mmmhmm" "Are you proud of me, Mommy?" "mmmhmmm" Not satisfied, "MOMMY, are you PROUD of me? I put my pajamas on all by myself. Mommy, are you proud of me? Mommy are you proud of me that I put my pajamas on all by myself? MOMMY....are you PROUD of me????" "Yes, Connor, I am proud of you." "Oh. Thank you Mommy. THANK YOU Mommy. MOMMY...I said THANK YOU!" "You're welcome, Connor."

We are now down the stairs. I turn the corner to see Ariana dumping what was left of Daddy's Dr. Pepper all over the end table--she was trying to pour it into the glass that Daddy left out, but missed. She was holding the glass dangerously close to the tile floor. "NO!" I scream and jump over Honor to grab the Dr. Pepper and glass from Ariana's hand. Ariana starts crying.

As I am walking over to the garbage can to throw the cans away (no recycling in our neighborhood), I yell at Jasmine for jumping up on the table and throwing last night's dinner all over the floor. Samuel is eagerly crawling over to the floor to get to said mess. I pick Samuel up and lean him against the couch. "Mommy, I have to go potty." "Okay Honor. Go potty." I quickly grab a diaper, slap it on Ariana's bottom and throw her into her highchair. Then I grab the broom, remove Samuel again, and sweep up the mess. "Mommy, we need more soap in the bathroom!" "Honor, I thought you said you had to go potty...you don't need to wash your hands." "I don't need to go potty." "Then put your underwear on and get in your highchair!" "I need to go potty Mommy." "Okay Connor. Go potty."

It is now 8:15. Honor and Ariana are in their high chairs. I pick up Samuel and put him in his highchair. He starts crying--freedom is over. I shove a bottle at him. He is happy again. Connor comes out of the bathroom naked and sits down on the floor and starts reading a book. "Look Mommy! Truck! Look Mommy, Truck! Look Mommy! Truck! Truck, Mommy, Truck!" "Connor put your underwear on and get in your highchair!" "Oh. Okay." "MOMMMMMYYYYY. I WANT MILK!" "Hold on Ariana, I can't do everything all at once. Give me a second." "Mommy, I want bread please." "No Ariana. No bread this morning. Would you like some Cheerios?" "No. I don't want Cheerios." "Okay. Honor do you want Cheerios?" "No. I want the OTHER Cheerios." "Connor do you want Cheerios?" "No. I want the OTHER Cheerios." Connor climbs into his highchair. Nobody gets Cheerios (or any other cheerios...whatever that means).

It is now 8:25. I begin making their oatmeal. "I want Strawberries!" Honor announces as she sees me pouring peach oatmeal into her bowl. I don't say anything. "Mommy, I want strawberries, please Mommy. Mommy! I want strawberries! Mommy! I want strawberries!" I walk over and pick her up and silently carry her to the 'no fit' corner. Message understood.

I give Samuel his antibiotics. Ariana starts screaming, "I want medicine!!!" "You do not get any medicine." Ariana is saved by the bell...literally...the phone rings. It is our HOA saying they don't like the color choices we've chosen for the exterior of our home. They suggest changing the accent color to a darker color. Okay...whatever you think looks best. I hang up the phone to hear, "Honor! Stop playing with the tablecloth!!!" Connor starts crying. "Connor, you are NOT in charge of Honor. Honor stop messing with the tablecloth."

It is now 8:30. I sit down at the computer and try my best to ignore my kids. "Mommy, look it's a plane! Mommmmmyyyy! LOOK! It's a plane! Mommy, it is a plane, Mommy! Mommy! It is a plane!" "mmmmhmmm" "Mommy do I love you?" "That's for you to tell me, Connor." "I LOVE you Mommy." "I love you too, Connor." "I'm a good boy, Mommy! I'm a happy helper!"

"MOOOMMMMYYY! I HAVE to go potty!" "Okay Ariana, just a second." Too late. But Ariana refuses to allow me to change her poopie diaper without first sitting on the toilet. "Mommy, can I get down please?" "Yes, Honor. Do you want to watch a movie?" Please, please, please, please, please say you want to watch a movie. "Cinderella!" "Okay." Ariana heard Honor say she wanted Cinderella. "Mommy, I'm done!" flush. flush. flush. "ARIANA! Stop flushing the toilet and get out here!" "Mommy, can I get down please?" "Yes Connor." I start the movie and put another diaper on Ariana. She climbs back up in her highchair and finally eats some cheerios.

It is now 9:00. "Tag! You're it, you're it!" Connor yells and Honor starts chasing him. "Get out of the kitchen!" Honor finally catches up to him and tackles him. Connor starts crying. "GET... ON... THE... COUCH... AND... WATCH... YOUR... MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Silence is golden.

The Shuttle is Coming Along

There is something very alluring about watching my husband build a space shuttle for my son's bunk bed out of a bunch of boards. Hits me on multiple levels!

Traveling Side Show

I love it when I'm taking the kids out for a walk and the cars driving past point and giggle at my 3 in a wagon and one on my back....

btw...I love my baby backpack...I always forget I have that!

Space Shuttle is HERE!

The plans for Connor and Samuel's space shuttle bunk bed came last night. Daddy is very excited about starting it...and so are Connor and Honor. Especially Honor.

"Daddy is building a space shuttle for Connor"
"mmmhmmm"
Connor chimes in: "Mommy I love space aliens!"
"Its a space shuttle Connor...a rocket."
"I LOVE rockets!"
"mmmmhmmmm"
Honor's turn: "I get to play in the space shuttle."
"mmmhmm"
"Daddy is going to build it tonight."
"No honey, it is going to take Daddy a long time to build it."
"But I can play in it tomorrow."
"No it will be about a month before you can play in it."
"Oh. After Daddy builds Connor's space shuttle, I get my princess castle bed."
"mmmhmmm."
Connor's turn: "I get to HELP Daddy make the rocket!"
"mmmhmmm."
Honor's turn: "I get to help Daddy make my princess bed!"
"mmmhmmmm."
"I'm going to get my princess bed tomorrow."
"No honey, it is going to take Daddy a long time to build it."
"A month?"
"Probably longer than that."
"Oh. But I will be really careful with it."
"mmmmhmmm."

Naptime Potty Requests

"Mommy! I have to go potty!"
"No you don't, you just went 5 minutes ago. Go to sleep."
"Mommy! My pee is coming out!"
"No it is not...go to sleep!"
"Mommy! My pee is coming out! My pee is coming out of my bottom!"


FYI...she fell asleep about 5 minutes later...no accidents.

Sippy Cup Parents

Does anyone else think it is odd that my kids turn their sippy cups into Mommy and Daddy and carry on conversations with each others' sippy cups? And if I accidentally think they are actually asking ME a question, they have the audacity to get mad at me, "NO, I'm talking to MOMMY." Oh. Silly me.

I was making lunch....

...when Connor suddenly burst into tears. I looked up, fully expecting to see Honor lying on top of him or Ariana hitting him with a cup--I even opened my mouth in anticipation of scolding one of the girls. But Connor was leaning against "Daddy's" seat completely by himself and the girls formed the base of the triangle sitting calmly in front of the tv, drinking their sippy cups and watching Barney. So I asked Connor what happened. It took him a few minutes to compose himself enough to actually use his "big boy voice". Then he looked at me with those big brown eyes and said, "I'm so naughty!.....I peed my pants!" and started to cry all over again. Sure enough the poor little boy was soaked--shirt and all. He has not had an accident for over a month so this was pretty traumatic for him. I assured him that he wasn't naughty, accidents happen, and Mommy forgot to remind him to go potty. That calmed him down. Then I had him take his clothes off and try to go pee again on the toilet. He did. Then I wiped him down and gave him a "big boy diaper" (a pull-up) since it was close to naptime (he wears a pull-up at naptime because he can't get out of his room to go potty if he needs to). He got excited and his face beamed, "I get to wear my Buzz Lightyear's!" What he had been dreading had not come to pass--he did not have to wear a "baby diaper". Up until this point, every time he had an accident he had to wear baby diapers--that was because since the time we began really potty training, I have not forgotten to remind him to go potty so if he had an accident it was because he chose to go potty in his pants instead of on the toilet because he didn't want to take the time to go potty for whatever reason--thus he wanted to wear a diaper. This time was different because it truly was an accident. I explained it carefully to him and reminded him that he needed to listen to his body so that he didn't have any more accidents. He promised me over and over again that he wouldn't have any accidents in his "Buzz Lightyear's".

Daddy came downstairs for lunch. I explained to him what had happened with Connor. Daddy reminded him also that he needed to listen to his body. Then he sat on the floor to play with Samuel until everyone was at the table. After we prayed, Daddy went to sit down in his seat for lunch...."Why is my seat all wet?"

More Weight Loss

I'm now down 36 pounds officially (probably closer to 40). And that is WITH a really bad last 4 weeks where I ate a bunch of garbage and didn't do my cardio/sculpt! Yeah me!!!

One of my online "friends" just made her goal and is "living lean" and she is now one of the success stories for the program. I am so excited for her! I first met her 40+ pounds ago. Here's her story if you are interested:

Saycheese

I must say that it irritates me when I read "results not typical"...they are VERY typical for anyone who actually follows the plan! For me it was as easy as saying "what I am doing now isn't working" and finding what actually did. Obviously eating pizza and pop everyday wasn't helping me to lose weight!

Anyway...sorry to bore those of you who are sick of hearing about this program. Its just a big part of my life right now since in order to be successful you have to concentrate on doing the right things until they become habit. Thanks for listening! :-D

.