A shout out...

First and foremost....

A HUGE shoutout to my very dear friends, Sheri & Mike, who will be getting married next fall. They were just engaged this past weekend in my very favorite place on Earth, northern Michigan.

This shout out was supposed to happen on my last Hodge Podge post. It was supposed to be about all of these different things I wanted to write about, but of course, I end up losing out to my exhaustion and my posts are cut way shorter than I intend.

I am so excited for their wedding. I think maybe because it's in the fall when Aaron and I got married. Maybe I am so excited because I know how great our wedding was...how much fun we had...how we didn't even spend a whole lot of time together while we were at our reception, but he caught me starting at him a whole lot and I caught him staring at me a whole lot that night. I wouldn't change one thing about it. I can't believe that it'll be 6 years next month.

He truly is my best friend and my rock. He is the head of our home and having him as a husband and a father to my children is more of a blessing than I deserve. He is the one person I am not afraid to tell anything to and I know that it won't change the way he sees me...not even for one second.

Oh how I miss him...I don't know how wives send off their husbands for these long extended tours of duty. May God Bless them.

Let's see...what have we been up to???

Aaron came home to visit last weekend. Molly is seen up above working on the blueberry pie she made for him. I think she was more interested in eating as many blueberries and as much cool whip as she possibly could everytime I turned my back to stir the filling. She has taken a nice turn in her behavior lately. We made a sticker chart and who knew that stickers would be so powerful in Molly's world. The last thing she wants to happen is for her mom to take a sticker away from her. She LOVES her stickers.

A few things out of Molly's mouth lately:

"I hate you Max."

"Momma, this tape is really pissin' me off."

"Momma, it was my fault."

"Absolutely, Momma."

"I want my daddy."

The first was because the 2 of them were fighting. They were arguing b/c Molly insists on teasing Max. They were in the back of the van. She kept telling him that he was 2 and that she was 4. Well....that drove Max CRAZY. He started yelling at her. She yelled back.....back and forth back and forth. Finally, Molly said, "you aren't my friend anymore. I hate you Max". I felt awful. We had a nice long talk about how our brothers are very important to us...especially to their sister and that it's ok to be mad at him, but not to say those hurtful words. Last weeks bible verse has helped alot..."be kind and loving". It has really come in handy over the past few weeks. (It's a real testament on just how the bible can truly get us through our days!)

Molly's verse this week, in case you were wondering, "God knows everything about me". Thank goodness because I am not sure I want to know everything about Molly. It's a little scary to think about if I am being honest.

Now, the tape thing. I said it under my breath in the kitchen. She was in the living room. 10 minutes after the fact she comes in the kitchen with her own scotch tape saying the same thing.

Unbelievable.

That is another one of their words lately. They love unbelievable.

Max is doing great. Loves school. Loves Awana. Loves Sunday School. I really couldn't be more proud of him. He comes home singing a new song. Telling me stories about his day. He loves going to bed at night knowing that when he wakes up in the morning he gets to go to school. He spends Fri-Mon. night asking when he gets to go back. I hope this enthusiasm for school will last. If he is anything like his father it will.

Maggie is doing wonderfully. She is getting on a bit of a routine and I can't say enough how lucky and blessed we are with 3 healthy children who sleep thru the night regularly. Her smiles melt my heart and remind me in an instant that I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

I told her she can't move into her crib until her daddy gets home.

Oh, that reminds me. When Aaron came home this past weekend he brought gifts for the kids. One of the gifts was a stuffed snake for each of them. The second night Max had a horrible nightmare. Monday night he brought the snakes downstairs to me telling me, "Momma, their eyes are too big. I want daddy to get me a new snake with small and nice eyes". The snakes now hang out on the chair with me at night.

Again, here I go with the bobbing head and droopy eyelids.

A Hodge Podge....

A few different things running through my mind tonight....

Do I have the faith that I have b/c nothing really awful has happenend in my life?

The Lord has showered me with blessings...it's an honor to be married to Aaron, I have 3 of thee most beautiful and caring and adorable children, loving parents, fabulous sisters, a great brother, hilarious nephews, wonderful niece, I get to call some of the best people in the world my friends, my family and I attend a terrific church where I get to praise my Lord and my children are learning about their creator, I have a home, 2 cars, the ability to visit my family when I want, food for my children, the means to send my son to a Christian preschool and my daughter to gymnastics class...I could go on and on.

If I was crushed by devestating news am I strong enough in my faith to say, "I believe my Jesus is the same Jesus before this news"? I hope so.

I read some of these of these blogs and sometimes the tears just flow and then I get on my knees and grab my children and don't let go. The faith of these women is truly something special.
I believe that God works all things for good. I believe he has a plan that we are neither supposed to question or know.

A little something on the kids.

They are learning bible verses in Sunday school and Awana. Molly's last week was from Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and loving.
Anyone who knows our little Molly knows that when she is kind & loving no one can top her. However, when she is not, I pray this verse over her sweet little head.
This weeks verse is from Psalm 139:1
God knows everything about me.
Thank goodness he does, because I can't be everywhere and it brings comfort to my heart knowing that God can see her and know everything about her.

I was going over Max's bible verses with him. We were talking about all of the people that love him.
I asked him, "Max, who loves you?"
His reply, "John and Clay do."
Those are his 2 new buddies from church.
The answer I was looking for was, "Jesus loves me".
My little boy is going to be 4 in 20 days....I can't believe it.

My other Max story (this is why the title of today's post is hodge podge)
The kids have this frisbeet that is hollow in the middle. They enjoy putting it on their heads and wearing it as a hat.
Max put it on his head yesterday as we headed out to the falls.
He put it on his head, grabbed it between his fore finger and thumb and said, "What can I do for you ma'am?" ADORABLE.
Oh and Aaron brought the kids home these huge stuffed snakes. The kids were really excited at first. We are pretty sure that they caused some pretty major nightmares Saturday night. I was sitting downstairs tonight watching the Scrubs marathon when Max came down for the gazillionth time carrying his snake. He asked if I could hold onto the snake because he was scary. He told me that he wanted his dad to get smaller snakes with smaller and nicer eyes.
I told him I would speak to his dad about that. Up the stairs he went and a few seconds later was down with Molly's snake too.

My little Maggie. She missed her daddy. She was smiling at him all weekend.
I am in awe of those women who ship their husbands off overseas and are alone in raising the children months, sometimes years, at a time. May God bless them.

Well my eyes are slowly shutting and we have another busy week.

My cynical side....

Ugh! I hate how Satan works in me to bring out the worst.

First things first though.

Maggie had her 2 month check-up today.

9 pounds, 8.5 ounces

23 inches

I thought she was pretty long compared to the other guys. Nope. When I got home I checked their calendars. Max was 12 pounds, 9 ounces and 24.5 inches long and Molly was 10.5 pounds and 23.5 inches long. Anyone who knows Max knows that he hasn't grown too much in height since then :)

She is beautiful though. I know I said the same things about my oldest 2, but somehow it seems different this time around. Maybe it's because she is my last.

Now on to my cynical side....

doctors, media, drug companies, government....

Maggie got 3 shots today and an oral vaccine.

Yes, I made the decision to have them done. I think vaccines are extremely important and my kids have always handled them very well....their biggest side effect being more sleep.

Yes, being poked 3 times as opposed to the 4 times Max and Molly were poked at 2, 4, & 6 months is better.

However, one of those shots had THREE different vaccines in it. One shot had Hep B, polio, & Dtap in it. And doesn't DTap have 2 or 3 vaccines in just that one alone?

So vaccines today were:

Hep B

Polio

Dtap

Prevnar

Hib

Rotovirus

Are things really that bad out there? I do it because I want to keep my children from getting polio or hep b or ending up in the hospital for a week. But do really need to do it all within the first 12-15 months of their lives? Do they do it this early just because they can't run away?

I don't give my kids the flu shot...never have and they have never had the flu.

I know people who get the flu shot EVERY year and their entire family gets terribly sick with the flu EVERY year. Who knows???

Max is due for the chicken pox booster next month. Not a chance. What's wrong with getting the chix pox? I am with those moms who have chicken pox parties.

The cynical side of me says that the government is making big bucks off of this stuff.

Not so many years ago you didn't hear of ADD, ADHD, Autism, allergies to peanuts, gluten allergies, etc. WHERE IS IT ALL COMING FROM????

You have doctors saying that all of these vaccines are safe.

You have doctors meeting with kids for all of 20 seconds diagnosing kids with ADD & ADHD and sending the ridalin to schools so that the kids can line up 10 minutes before lunch to take their pills.

Organic, organic, organic....if it is SO good for you then why on earth is it SO expensive????

If the government truly wants us to be healthy and cut health care costs and all of the other nonsense then why does milk from a normal cow cost almost 7 bucks a gallon.

And if anyone knows me they know that I don't have a lot of faith in doctors anymore.

After one wanted to cut me open and put a stint in for a kidneystone that I had already passed....

After another told me to prepare for the worse when my 3 week old baby girl's blood work came back abnormal...only for them to come back 4 hours later and say oh never mind she is just fine...

I don't have a lot of faith in them. I go for the well visits b/c I want a second pair of eyes to check her over and make sure her eyes and ears look good. The vaccines b/c I think that they are important and if my kid has an illness, I go for the scrip. I don't let them fool me into making me think they know my child better than I do.

I'm one of those people who believe that cancer will never be cured b/c the drug companies make WAY TOO much money off of it. People counter that with "yeah, but won't they make a ton more money off the drugs that they will use to cure it". There is probably big money in that, of course. But if you cure it then people won't keep coming back for the chemo and radiation treatments that cost thousands of dollars per treatment.

The media loves a good story and vaccines is where it's at that's all we hear about.

If it's eating organic...that's what we hear about.

If it's about getting the latest vaccine...that's what we hear...until we hear that all of these great vaccines suddenly may have a problem and they are pulled.

The government, media, drug companies....they certainly know who to go to to make their big bucks...a mom.

Tell a mom that their kid needs it or he could get terribly sick and end up in the hospital or worse.

The guilt of a mother...not too much out there with greater power.

pottery, subway, dead batteries, target, & LOTS of smiles...

What a terrific day spent with my kids!

Did they drive me nuts? ABSOLUTELY

Was I at the brink? DEFINITELY

Did they know it? OF COURSE...Molly was even asking..."Are we driving you nuts Momma?"

That one is something else.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE her. Even when I tell her not to touch the bathroom door again when her brother is in there and she looks me straight in the eye and touches the door. Not only does she intentionally defy me, she tells me she is doing it. "I touched the door Momma," she says. She is unbelieveable.

Which reminds me...movie night was this past Friday and we rented Herbie from the library. (Very cute movie).

During some of the race scenes Max just kept saying over and over, "Whoa Momma, did you see that? That was unbelieveable!" The first girl to break his heart better watch out!!!

I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to take the kids to one of those paint your own pottery places. Today was the perfect day to go. It was raining.

The kids were very excited when I told them that they could pick out a piece to paint. Molly chose a puppy and after a bit of consideration, Max chose the jet. The jet won out over the skateboard, trophy, & crocodile.

They chose their 4 colors very carefully and for about a half hour only the puppy's head was painted. Molly was more interested in getting as much paint on her brush, sticking it in the jar of water, and watching what color the water turned. The other tough task of the day was getting the kids to dab their brushes after they rinsed them off.

Needless to say, the paint was a bit drippy.

The kids had a blast. When I told them that we had to leave the pieces there to dry and get shiny they told me that they could blow on them so that they would dry before we left.

They seemed to get it by the time we left.

I chose to do a dinner plate with the kids handprints on them. When the guy told me that we would only be able to do Maggie's footprint and not her hand, I just nodded my head in agreement. Of course this guy had no clue what a mother will endure to get their little girl's handprint on a plate.

Maggie passed out.

I laid her in the stroller.

We painted her hand.

Brought the plate to her hand.

Wa-La!

All 3 handprints on the plate.

I can't wait to see it next week.

The kids and I then had lunch at Subway. The kids split a pizza when Max figured out that Subway doesn't not serve cheeseburgers or chicken strips. Subway now serves pizza though. Who knew???

So out to the parking lot we go. I got diapers changed & kids clicked into the careseats. I get clicked into my seat only to put the key in the ignition and turn it...nothing happens. I instantly start grilling the kids on who left the very back light on in the van.

A few seconds later I am on the phone with my husband very upset with myself that it was in fact my fault that the battery was dead. I left the headlights on. Apparently, I didn't know that they were still making cars that have headlights on them and don't turn off when you turn off the car. Oops.

Aaron tells me to call a towing company. I wouldn't have any idea where to call. I'm in this city for the first time without my husband and 3 kids.

Out of nowhere and out of ALL the cars in this mall parking lot, the people parked right next to us come walking out of the mall asking us if we need a jump.

It was like the Lord knew that I was on the brink sitting in my car just staring.

And just as quickly as they showed up they were off. THANK YOU! I can't imagine what kind of afternoon that would have turned into had they not shown up.

We were off. Found Target. Max really wanted a new bag for school so he found a nice Thomas backpack. We also found a suitcase for Maggie. We won't have to pack her clothes in plastic bags anymore.

We were finally on our way home after spilling bit of popcorn in Target and trying to eat it all off of the floor and bottom of cart. Not too long after we leave Max starts freaking b/c he has to go #2. We pull off the freeway. All 4 of us make it to the not-so-clean restroom. Max gets on the toilet. Peed a few drops. That was it. No number 2 until well after we returned home. There was no way I was getting everyone out to do nothing again.

Anyhow, hopefully everyone gets some rest tonight b/c they have to get up early for school.

Oh and is my Maggie's smile the most beautiful thing you've ever seen????

It was a great day with my kids, but am really looking forward to being away with my sisters in a few short weeks. Our little traditions of the evening are something I look forward to for 364 days a year. I can't wait. And my new book should arrive shortly before the conference. Since I can get ZERO reading done here, I plan on having my book read cover to cover by the time I arrive home.

Just a few more short weeks....yippee!!!

The first day of school & 2 months old!

A big day around here....my baby boy started school today. He LOVED it! Didn't want to leave when I picked him up. And my baby girl is 2 months today. She is starting to smile and my heart jumps just as far as it did 4 years ago when Max started smiling at me.

And our big girl...our Molly is Molly. I think she had a harder time being away from Max than I did. So our day...I am going to attempt to put pics throughout the blog...we'll see if it works. If not, then you can just match the pic with the paragraph!

This morning I had to wake Max up to get ready. His eyes popped right open and said ok. Then he saw the computer and asked if he could get on NickJr. first and then go to school. When I told him no (b/c who actually thinks that I got anyone up early enough to have NickJr. time...they were lucky they got their teeth brushed!) he said "ok momma" and hopped off the bed and into the bathroom he went. He did his own hair... Don't worry...he brushed it after that :) He brushed his teeth all by himself and then went right into his room to get dressed. Even Molly cooperated this morning. All four of us were ready in time....well with about 60 seconds to spare for pictures outside our house.

Oh and a group one inside. The backpack Max is wearing is the one his daddy used and his Uncle Ben used. He wanted to take his red one today, but I think he only did it for me and my taking pictures addiction. I think he really wants a new one to go with his new school. He is my baby boy...of course I am going to let him get a new one! :)

We took a few pics inside his classroom. I told myself I was just going to drop him off and take just a handful of pics. Nope...although I don't think I did too bad.

I told Max that we were leaving and he said, "Can't you just stay for 10 more minutes Momma?" I told him that we would stay one more minute and then we had to go. He was ok with that.

A minute later I told him that we had to go and again he asked, "Please Momma can't you stay just 10 more minutes?"

"Nope," I said. "This is school and mommies and daddies aren't allowed to stay."

He replied with a long "okay". And he gave me a hug and a kiss and we were off.

Molly didn't throw a fit like I thought she would. We got to walk back through the school and she enjoyed that. We went out for a muffin and hot cocoa (yes it was over 90 degrees here today). She loved the coffee shop. How could she not with the flat screen and comfy couch?!?

After we left the coffee shop Molly told me it was time to go and get Max. I told her that he was still in school and that we would pick him up in a little bit. Off to WalMart we went. We printed a few pics, got some eggs, picked up Joshua's birthday present. Of course, I forgot paper towel, but I figure we need something to do tomorrow morning. We were on our way back home for a bit before picking up Max and Molly informed me once again that it was time to pick up Max. She forgot about it once I gave her a grape/animal cracker snack and planted herself down for a few minutes of Sesame Street.

Off to pick Max up and of course he didn't want to leave. He was tugging at me to stay, but got over it fairly quickly. It's amazing what a drinking fountain can do for a little stubborness.

We got home, had a good lunch, played, colored, painted, cleaned up and went to the post office. Then we had dinner and ran a few more errands. I ended up nursing Maggie in the back of the van in the parking lot. (I think I'm definitely learning to put my idea of what my day and house should look like to the side.) We got home and gave Maggie a bath. Molly told me that "all 3 of us can go at same time". I don't think so. They enjoyed their bath, 2 stories, and then crashed. Before going to bed though I told Max that he had to get some sleep b/c he had school tomorrow. He looked at me with those big hazel eyes and said, "I get to go again tomorrow?!?" I'm so glad he likes it. I hope his love of school continues for years to come.

Last but certainly not least....my little one is 2 months today.

Smiling more

hates her baths

sleeping 7-8 hours a night

hanging in there with her rough and tumble brother and especially sister

growing more and more everyday...almost out of her 0-3 onesies

a little blessing from our Lord Jesus...thank you.

Do you get dumber with each child???

I have no idea how we spent as many days in Michigan, went as many places as we did and nothing seems to have been left behind. My brain seems to have taken a vacation since we've arrived home.

We got back Wednesday later in the afternoon and I went out for about an hour while my dad stayed with the kids....(bless him because the kids were on speed the minute we walked through the door). I can't believe that I actually remembered the pizza that I went out for the way my mind has been forgetting things the past 48 hours.

The kids went to bed fairly early Wed. night. They crashed pretty hard after all of their fun up north. They got a good nights rest and we were off to the festival yesterday morning. (More photos of that later.) We found a good parking spot, got Maggie in the wrap, and the other 2 in the stroller and we were off. We had enough cash for lunch and a little something for each of them, or so I thought. We shopped the vendors, tasted samples of italian ice, played in the beach volleyball court created in the middle of the street, had hot dogs and chips for lunch, and then Max found a Spiderman hat. After all of that we had one dollar left. Molly found a tinkerbell bag that she liked so we were off to find the ATM. After getting caught up in a very long conversation about wood carving and finding more free samples we were finally standing in front of the ATM machine. I grabbed the $60 bucks, turned the stroller right around and told the kids we could now get ice cream. I left not only my receipt, but my card as well. IDIOT! I didn't realize it until about 4 hours later when we were home resting up for the parade.

After calming down and calling the bank and cancelling we headed back downtown. The parade was a big hit with the kids. I feel weird going to that kind of stuff though without Aaron. He would have had a good time watching the kids run for candy and watching them stick their necks out to see what was coming next in the parade. So since we spent all day at the festival we had lots to do today.

We were supposed to be home from WalMart by 10 am. We left for WalMart at 10:30. We had to get the rest of Max's school supplies. The kids were CRAZY!!! I'm not sure what to do with Molly & her attitude. It's going to be an interesting few years I think. Finally we got everything....only after burying Maggie in rolls of toilet & paper towel and plastic spoons & forks. We paid and then headed to the stamp machine. I put in $8.50 and it shot 10 cents back to me...no stamp booklet...or so I thought. After dealing with my kids antics for 45 minutes in the store, I had one nerve left and it was wasted on the guy telling me that they would have to call the post office to get me a refund. Are you kidding me???

I'm the IDIOT though b/c if I would have just put my hand in there and felt around I would have felt the stamp booklet. I think I called my sister for the 2nd time after that.

So we are back home...I have bags and bags of stuff in front of me and I go to get the school supply list to separate everything.

No list.

No yellow pads of paper with everything I need to accomplish by 5 o'clock written on it.

All of which I left in WalMart at the end of the checkout line.

Back to WalMart we go.

We get our lists back.

Back home. Drive momma nuts. Eat lunch. Drive momma nuts some more.

My big accomplishment for the day though....all the kids were bathed, teeth brushed, side dish made for picnic, myself bathed and hair straightened, ALL ahead of schedule.

Now more on the reasons why I seem to have left my brain somewhere and can't find it.

Max:

Had his school picnic tonight and met his teachers. He is so excited. I got a few pics of him in front of his school. I'm sure I'll be crying to much on Wed. morning to get one.

Molly:

Attitude, attitude, attitude. any ideas? shoot them my way!

Maggie:

smiling, cooing, growing so fast

Thank you Lord. Please be with all of us over the weekend as we travel to be together.

Amen

.

There is no place like home....

It is SO GOOD to be back home in Kentucky. I loved our visit with our families, but when I saw that first mountain my peaceful feeling within returned. Once again, saying good-bye to my family brought tears. I hate leaving them and when I allow myself to think about how my kids won't see their cousins for another several weeks it tugs at my heart. Max & Molly had a blast with their cousins. It was a very BUSY 4 days visiting all of them, but they had no idea how busy it was and didn't care about anything except playing with each other. I think what drove me over the edge was the traffic. I can now go weeks without being on the freeway and being back on it in Detroit was awful. Everytime we picked up and went somewhere new we spent double the amount of time in the car. It started adding up and driving us all a little nuts. Friday night I was on the phone with my sister, sitting in traffic, in tears. When I finally calmed down my husband called and the tears started all over again.

Besides seeing all of the cousins, we also spent a little time at the doctors office. Thursday we were supposed to leave right after lunch to head to my brother-in-law's house. Well I had been craving the deli for lunch. We (my sisters and the boys) all went. Max went up ahead with his aunts and cousins. I was walking in and my nephew told me that Max was hurt because he went swinging on the ropes. I replied with, "well, that'll teach him not to swing on those anymore". A few seconds later I realized that he was really hurt. He decided to jump on these ropes that are right inside the deli. He apparently ran in and went swinging like Superman. The poles that hold the ropes came down on his pinky finger. Long story short...we went to a foot & ankle specialist. (They do fingers too.) Max was so brave. He didn't flinch when the doctor touched his pinky. I'm sure that the tootsie pop he had in his mouth at the time helped with that. He didn't start crying until the doc pulled back on his nail and then cut half of it off. OUCH!!! I felt so bad for him, but he was a champ. We've been watching it turn all sorts of different colors. I even bought him $4 band-aids...only for my boy.

We will now try to decompress. Since we hit the door it seems as if they have both been on speed. We'll hit the festival this weekend and they practice getting up, getting ready and getting in the car by 7:40 a.m. I can't believe that he is starting school this coming week. I am going to have to get up an extra hour earlier just to make sure I get all of the photos that I want! :)

Good Night