project 365, week 13

this has been such a crazy weather week!

the kids played in the sprinkler on sunday afternoon. we had marble size hail at our house on wednesday (it was tennis ball size just west of us and broke out windshields!!), and then it got down into the low 30's friday night. thats texas weather for you though!

SUNDAY

the kids were outside playing and colby wanted a drink out of the water hose. i was feeling obnoxious so i cranked the water on full blast and it soaked him. this resulted in both of my kids being soaking wet and ultimately playing in the sprinkler in their clothes.

MONDAY

when we got home from the grocery store there was a big fat cardinal in our tree. such a beautiful bird! i tried to get closer, but i spooked him and he flew away.

TUESDAY

colby asked for peanuts at snacktime and molly wanted goldfish. then colby decided he wanted some goldfish mixed in with his peanuts. we were sitting at the table and he asked, "mommy, did jesus really feed 2,000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 goldfish??" i looked over to find this arrangement, and then we talked about the story. i love that his snack made him think about a bible story!!



WEDNESDAY

the crazy hail storm! it freaked the kids out a little and church services were cancelled for the evening, which means daddy was home (always a bonus!).

the kids each had a cup of hail balls for dessert, with little pieces of grass mixed in for flavor. aw, i should have taken a picture of that! this picture doesnt do the hail storm justice, but you can kind of see how much is pushed up against the playhouse. our front yard looked like it had snowed! crazy stuff!!

THURSDAY

colby has a train track set thats supposed to be a 'train carnival'. its so big that we dont keep it set up, so each time he wants to play with it i 'get' to put it together. this thing is the bane of my existence in that as soon as i build it, it breaks somewhere, and it doesnt fit together quite like it should in the first place. grrrr. i get all sweaty and worked up just thinking about it.

FRIDAY

once a month we have midnight scrapping at the church. its open to anyone, and we bring some (or all) of our scrapbooking stuff and sit for hours and talk and eat, and we might get a little scrapbooking done. this is from one of the pages i did.

SATURDAY

we had a great night out! allen preached sunday in 'big church' and fabricated a story (to make a point) about us going to ruth's chris steak house and seeing a celebrity, etc, etc. he told the congregation, "you should have known i was lying when i said we were at ruth's chris steakhouse! i cant afford that on a youth pastors salary!!" later that night he was up at the church for a meeting and there was a gift card at his desk for cool river, a delicious upscale steakhouse here in town. we dont know who gave it to us, but the inside read, 'it's no ruths chris, but take amy and enjoy.' so tonight we did!! if whoever gave that to us reads this, thankyouthankyouthankyou!!! we sooo appreciate it!

after dinner we went to the round rock high school dragonettes spring show to support a few of our youth that were performing. it was fantastic! top that off with free babysitting from our sweet friend becky and you have a wonderful date night. :) the picture is sideways, but i just dont have the patience to go in and change it and reload my pictures. theres probably a very easy way to do that, but i'm technilogically challenged and tend to do things the hard way.

have a blessed week!!!!

mid-week catch up

once again, i have no big event or 'happening' to inform you of, but many little things.
so today you get bullet points, which saves me from having to come up with witty, creative transitions, because people, i'm not in a witty creative mindset. i'm blah. i'm blaming it on the zyrtec, which brings me to point numero uno!

1)i started taking zyrtec on monday. it has very effectively kicked my allergies to the curb. it has also made me a walking zombie. i haven't been this tired since i was pregnant (no, i'm not), so i must decide between the lesser of two evils. would i rather be horribly sleepy and itch-free, or completely alert and rested while wanting to saw my nose off of my face? i'm going to give it 2 more days and then i'll probably stop taking it. i'm not a nice person when i'm tired.

2)colby came back from mimis on sunday and i've been doing damage control since then. i love that he enjoys going to mimis house and i love that she so willingly takes him and does super fun things with him, but when he comes home i feel like my son has transformed into, well, not my son. he tells me when he's at mimis he gets to do whatever he wants (and she admits to this, which i haven't thought much about until he came home this time), but when he comes home i have to reprogram him to use his manners and not speak to me like his slave. it ends up being a 3 or 4 day battle of time outs and tears and it frusterates me to no end. it really makes me feel bad for him, because i feel like i'm on his case constantly and its something that could be avoided, but where is the balance between the stereotypical spoil fest at mimis while still respecting the expectations we have of him (saying yes ma'am and no ma'am and please, etc). you wouldn't think 3 days at mimis would have such a big effect, but this time it did. any thoughts??

3)i can't even think straight right now. it's the zyrtec. stupid allergies.

4)colby peed on the floor yesterday. he hollers at me when he's gone #2 to come wipe him. he's capable of wiping himself, but he doesnt do such a good job yet, so he prefers me to do it. tmi? sorry. anyway, i hear him yelling,
colby: mommy!! i poo pooed and i'm in your bathroom!!
so i went in to do my duty and stepped in wetness.
me: colby, why is the floor wet? (noticing a trail of wet from the toilet across the floor to the bathtub) whats all over the floor?
colby: i peed.
me: on the floor??
colby: i didnt tuck my penis in
me: why not? why didnt you tuck your penis in if you knew you had to pee?
colby: i just didnt make it fast enough and my pee is so strong! it just squirted right out all over the floor!
me: why is there a kitchen towel in here?
molly: (has been standing behind me the whole time) i cleaned!
colby: molly tried to clean it up.
very nice of her, but she really just smeared pee everywhere and got it on the bottoms of her feet which tracked it all over the bathroom. i'll give her an A for effort, though. why the kitchen towel, i do not know.

5) colby told me this morning that he loves me because my face is puffy. granted it probably was puffy at 730am after just waking up (and the allergies!), but he meant soft. he's never used the word 'puffy' before. he usually says 'squishy' or 'mushy'. at any rate, i need to work with him on his complimenting skills.

6) american idol is back on tonight and i am rejoicing. it got pushed back for obama last night. i know the presidents important, but more important than idol??? i bet more people watch idol than watched the president last night. vote on that, america!

sorry. it's the zyrtec talking.

project 365, week 12

spring break!! that really means nothing to me actually, except that colby went to the grocery store with me on monday, which he usually doesnt do because he's at mothers day out. oh, it also means that everything is ridiculously crowded because no one is in school, thereby resulting in me staying home, because really, who wants to fight a crowd with 2 preschoolers when i could just wait a few more days?? so i guess i'm one of the few that does not look forward to spring break.

colby left wednesday to spend the last half of the week in houston with mimi and papa. they took him to the houston rodeo thursday night, so i'm sure i'll get to hear all about that when he gets home tomorrow.

mom took molly friday evening and we had a date night and a great saturday at a marriage conference with dr. gary chapman (The Five Love Languages, just to name one of his many many books) sooo good!!! if you ever have the chance to attend one of his conferences, do it!

my pictures dont reflect any of that stuff, which is why i'm telling you now. :)

here's the rest of my week.

SUNDAY

the last lego project! last week i pulled out a ginormous box of legos and built a pirate thing and a parking garage. there was still one left to build, but i was legoed out and allen wanted to try his hand at it, so we saved the last one for daddy. sunday afternoon was spent on the castle hideout.

MONDAY

we were sitting out on the deck when allen got home from work and he said, "oh my gosh, the yard needs to be mowed!" so he got out before dinner and gave the front yard the first mow of the year. the kids thought he might need some help.

TUESDAY

i saw one of the moms at colbys school with black toenails and thought it was super cute,

so i picked up a bottle of black polish at the store on monday. when molly saw me painting my nails she of course wanted me to do hers. i have a precious, fluffly, pink little 2 year old with black toe nails.

WEDNESDAY

the worst parking job i've ever seen. i promise you, this car is legitimately parked in this space, or spaces as it were. you can see there is no one in the front seat, and the car was still there when i came out of the store. i couldnt help but take a picture. seriously???

THURSDAY

mo and i went to my parents house to play (they have the best little kid yard!) and i caught molly going in and out of the pet door. she does it often, but i'd never taken a picture of it.

FRIDAY

GREASE!! we went to opening night to see the show and support my buddies in the cast.

this is chris. he played the part of sonny and stole the show!!!

SATURDAY

my husband is a ridiculous DUKE basketball fan. seriously. ridiculous. he has march madness like no one should and he even had colby fill out a bracket. colby picked western kentucky to win the whole tournament because kentucky is a funny name. he also picked cornell to advance pretty far because he likes corn. for those of you who are uneducated in basketball, these are not good choices, although western kentucky is still in it, but thats beside the point.

tonight i am torn because the Texas Longhorns are playing DUKE. as i said allen is the biggest DUKE fan EVER but how can we not root for UT?? he forbade me from wearing anything UT today and even had an issue with my orange t-shirt i put on when we got home (not a concious decision i assure you).

so this is my picture for today.

just mo

colbys at his mimis house till sunday!! its weird having just molly. both of them being gone is not weird, just quiet, and a nice change from time to time, although rarely does that happen just for the sake of them being gone. they're usually both gone so we can go to youth camp or some other church/youth function, so we're not here to enjoy the quietness. is that a word?
anyway, so colby left yesterday evening and will come back on sunday morning. allen is preaching in 'big church' so his mom and stepdad are driving back in to hear him, and they'll drop colby off at that time as well. kind of a two-fer, if you will.
molly and i were sitting out back after colby left yesterday. it was a beautiful evening, about 65 degrees i would guess, and i was reading a book while she took her babies down the slide. then she got a book and came and sat next to 'read'. whats funny is she grabbed 'A Charlotte Mason Companion' by Karen Andreola off a side table just inside the door (its a homeschooling book), and 'read' to me about dinosaurs. i dont know where that came from but she was going on and on about what they like to eat and their tongues and all sorts of other randomness. and to think she got it all from that charlotte mason book! :) it amazes me how much she has to say when colbys not around. not that she doesnt talk much, because her mouth is always going non-stop. its just that when hes here, she follows his lead for the most part. his ideas are her ideas. i dont get much from molly, because its all stuff that shes heard him say or seen him do and shes re-doing it her way. i get time with her 2 mornings during the week while colbys at mothers day out, but i take advantage of that time with one less kid to do my grocery shopping and go to the gym and run other various errands. we hardly ever just stay home on those mornings.
all that said, i'm looking forward to 'just sitting' with mojo today, and tomorrow, and the next day.......
we were supposed to go to the zoo today, but we've been a couple of times already this month and i just didnt feel like driving an hour and a half, so i backed out at the last minute. i think maybe the Lord prompted my heart on that so i can just enjoy my baby girl with out any activities or other stuff going on.
this will be fun!

have a blessed weekend!!

project 365, week 11...i think.

an interesting week to say the least. this time of year in central texas we're typically averaging in the mid 80s. it got there about a week and a half ago--just long enough for everyone to put the winter stuff away and pull the shorts and tank tops out. then the unthinkable happened. we took a turn this week and headed back down to the 40s, and just for fun, threw in some rain. fortunately (for lack of a better word) for me, molly was sick, so we had a good excuse to stay in the house and wear our pjs for most of the week. :)

rain you may stay, but sun, please come back. this is ridiculous. and my skin agrees.

SUNDAY, Mar 8th

we got out sunday evening and played in the street. thats not as bad as it sounds. we live on a cul-de-sac. i loved this picture of molly riding the 4-wheeler in her laura ashley dress.

MONDAY, Mar 9th

monday is always grocery day unless an act of God prevents me from doing so. i'm very scheduled. here's the haul for this week.

TUESDAY, Mar 10th

mom and i took the kids to the san antonio zoo. we didnt think about spring break being an issue because spring break in round rock isnt until next week. not everyone follows our schedule though and when we got into s.a. the crowd was unbelievable. i'm so used to going places during the week and having them all to ourselves while everyone is in school. i tried to talk the kids into doing anything else, but they had their sights set. it was rough, but we had fun. this is the only picture i took though.

WEDNESDAY, Mar 11th

molly woke up at 3am throwing up (you may have already read this from my thursday post) and we were pretty much awake at that point. i was able to take a decent nap that afternoon while she caught up on her sleep as well.

THURSDAY, Mar 12th

an inside day. the cold front blew in wednesday, but molly being sick kept us indoors. thursday we stayed in by choice. i played pirates with colby for awhile. we didnt have a hook so colby put a drillbit from his tool set on my thumb. i guess that makes me captain drillbit. sexy, yes?

picture courtesy of colby t.

FRIDAY, Mar 13th

some friends of ours passed down their sons lego sets for colby. we got them about a month ago but i've been saving them for a 'rainy day'. friday was still cold and rainy, so out came the legos. i spent 5 hours in all building and was able to put together the pirate adventure set and the metro park and service station. my back hurts today from being hunched over the directions for so long! well worth it though. i doubt that will be the only time i put those together. :)

SATURDAY, Mar 14th

we went to a birthday party and i was feeling extra creative, so i made the 'to, from' card with my cuttlebug and other scrapbooking supplies. it was cute, but no one will appreciate it like i do. it was ripped up and thrown away about 2 hours later by 3 year old twins. so sad.

my sweet girl

when she thinks no one is paying attention, molly 'reads' to herself. whether its a book she already knows and gets mostly right, or shes just looking at the pictures and making up a story to go with them, its the sweetest little thing.
i caught her doing it today with Goodnight Moon and i ran a grabbed my camera and taped her without her knowing. theres a long pause in the middle, but you can hear her 'reading' for most of it. almost 2 mintutes in, i think at a minute and fifty seconds, she says something like, "oh no, its dark again! what ever shall we do in the dark?" then she turns the page and says, "all night long the cat sit in the chair."
i love it! hope it doesnt bore you....
on a side note, i spent almost 5 hours (not in a row) building Lego sets today. we inherited a few of the big sets from a friend of ours and i just pulled them out for the first time for colby to play with today. so of course i 'got' to build the pirate island set and the metro park and service station. you'll see pictures tomorrow for 365. i just heard colby in the living room say, "mom, i'm having some tenical ish-yous (technical issues) with this gas station!"
i must go save the day!

mass quantities of vomit

whats that you say? its been too long since ive posted about one of my kids vomiting? well, lucky for you friends, the wait is over!!
granted this one is not as funny as my past experiences have been, but its none the less satisfyingly grotesque.
the night before last i was sound asleep when allen taps me on the leg.
allen: "where's mollys other bink?" (bink is what we call her bear she sleeps with. its actually a little blanket with a head. you moms know what i'm talking about.)
me: (completely not awake) "huh? wha? is everything ok?"
allen: "i just need to know where her bink is!"
me: "give me a second to think!..........its in her hamper. it smells like pee."
allen: "well, its that or vomit."
me: (definitley awake now) "what?? whats wrong?"
allen: "she threw up. i took care of it. go back to sleep."
me: "why did she throw up?"
allen: "i dont know, she didnt tell me." (nothing like a little sarcasm at 3am)
i laid there deliberating if i should get up or not. he told me not to, which he most likely meant. the mommy in me wants to get up and make sure everything is under control, but he told that he took care of it, so if i do get up he's going to think that i dont trust him. or does he really want me to get up, but he doesnt want me to feel like i have to? i was still deciding when he came back in. i asked for more details. it was all over her sheet and everything else in her bed, but not on her. he changed her sheet and pillowcase and put her back to bed.
allen: "did you not hear her crying?"
me: "no! i never do!"
this is something i no longer possess; the ability to hear my kids crying at night. when they were bitty babies i heard them, even without a monitor, but once they hit about 20 months something happened and that part of me shut down. on the occasion she cries during the night, allens the one that hears her and goes in to take care of it 99% of the time. the other 1% of the time when i do hear her, its usually because i'm up using the bathroom or coming back from the gym at 645am, which is still considered 'night time' at my house.
we were kind of back asleep when he hears her again. i of course didnt, but i felt him throw the covers back and jump out of bed. this time i was right behind him. about half an hour had passed since the first incident. she had thrown up again.
fresh sheet, fresh pillow case, fresh pjs. bink was ok this time.
again 30 mintues later. same drill.
and again 30 mintues later.
by this time the first load of vomit laundry was done, so we had a fresh sheet to put on the bed.
i made the decision to not put her back in her bed based on what had transpired over the past 2 hours. i was sensing a pattern. (you're probably thinking, 'well its about time genius!')
being concerned about dehydration, allen gave her something to drink and she almost immediately threw it up.
so we sat in the dark in the living room with a few towels for protection. molly wanted daddy, so they fell asleep on the couch together and i slept on the floor next to them. colby came out and woke us up at 715 so we could get him ready for school.
molly threw up a grand total of 10 times from 3am to 9am. why i kept count, i'm not sure. a friend of mine said i did it subconciously to keep my sanity.
by 11am she seemed fine, and had her appetite back. we stuck to the B.R.A.T. diet all day and didnt have any more issues.
when colby got home from mothers day out, i tried to keep them away from each other as much as i could. going through that experience with him is one of the last things on my wish list right now, right above public humiliation (shout out to those of you doing the esther study).

anyway, all is well. we were super stir crazy today so like a madwoman i took the kids to the outlet mall in the freezing rain (please come back spring weather!) to use my 30% off Gap coupon and hit the clearance rack at Childrens Place. then i played pirates with colby for an hour (you'll get a picture of that on saturday. cant wait, can you?) while mojo slept.

praise the Lord this is really the only sickness we've dealt with this whole winter season, even though its not winter anymore, but you know what i mean.
i'm good with that.

interview with colby

interview with colby, 4 years old

1. What is something mom always says to you? I love you!

2. What makes mom happy? following directions

3. What makes mom sad? not following directions

4. How does your mom make you laugh? tickling!

5. What was your mom like as a child? just like me but a girl (thats pretty accurate)

6. How old is your mom? 109

7. How tall is your mom? forty-eight four

8.What is her favorite thing to do? do Bible study

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? stuff thats boring to me and exciting to her

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? doing CATS (the musical. i was in it.)

11. What is your mom really good at? Bible study

12. What is your mom not very good at? playing (bummer)

13. What does your mom do for her job? be a mommy

14. What's your mom's favorite food? corn on the cob (what? so not true.)

15. What makes you proud of your mom? playing with me (which i'm not very good at apparently)

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? mother bear (from Little Bear)

17. What do you and your mom do together? Play and pick up

18. How are you and your mom the same? we have hands

19. How are you and your mom different? she has longer hair and i have shorter hair

20. How do you know your mom loves you? by giving hugs and kisses

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Africa

project 365, week 10

week 10!!
this year is flying by at a ridiculous pace. i think doing this project keeps me even more aware of that than i would be normally.
i missed wednesday this week. so sorry. i thought about it many times but never acted.
i have multiple pictures on multiple days, though. hopefully that will make up for the oversight.
link up to saras blog if you have pictures to share!!


SUNDAY, Mar 1st
i realized as i was going to bed that i hadnt taken a picture for the day! i snuck in a got this one of colby. not great, but it was the best i could do. at his mdo they've been recognizing people who serve in the community and have had a few come talk to the class (fireman, policeman, pastor [my husband!], nurse, and UPS man). the UPS man gave tshirts to all the kids. colby slept in his for the first few nights till i finally had to wash it again. he's sleeping in it in this picture. its a size large, so he can barely keep it on. so cute.




MONDAY, Mar 2nd
some friends gave us tickets to the UT vs Baylor game. i hadnt been to a UT basketball game, so i was really looking forward to it. the game was pretty slow and UT hammered them, but it was still fun. notice my scarf? monday was scarf day!

TUESDAY, Mar 3rd

all the bowls were being washed in the dishwasher, so i ate my cereal out of the smallest mixing bowl we have, which is still way too big for cereal, as you can plainly see.

THURSDAY, Mar 5th

the kids and i went to my parents house after bible study and lunch. dad was working in their backyard getting sod laid. colby caught a ride on the wheelbarrow.

FRIDAY, Mar 6th

we had a great family day outside getting the yard cleaned up, flower beds cleaned out and weeded, bushes trimmed back, etc. colby and molly played with the sidewalk chalk and colby managed to get more on his rear end than on the sidewalk i think.

SATURDAY, Mar 7th

i had to do 3 pictures for this day (i guess that makes up for missing wednesday)

the kids' first time fishing! we went to a local 'duck pond' with some friends of ours and spent about an hour and a half out there fishing and playing. colby didnt catch anything but evan caught a fish and a turtle and allen got a duck tangled in his fishing line. its all catch and release, and the duck came out unscathed as well...maybe a little traumatized.

fish numero uno

father and son

then on to pei wei for lunch. he hasnt quite got the hang of the chopsticks.

have a blessed week! thanks for stopping by! :)

caution: no tadpoles!

we were out working in the yard this morning as a family; so much fun and a beautiful day for it!! around 11:30 i went in and made pb & j sandwiches. the kids werent ready to come inside so i suggested we eat outside. the idea was met with an enthusiastic "YEAH!" from molly and colby so i proceeded to load up the plates with picnic-y foods and promptly delivered them to the waiting mouths in the driveway. allen opted to sit on an upside down bucket and colby noticed a warning on the side (right at his eye level). we flipped the bucket over and he looked at it intently for several seconds, then announced, "you cant put water and tadpoles in that bucket and then put your hands in it."
i pushed for an explanation but he couldnt come up with one on his own. with some help from daddy he finally decided it was because our hands have germs and tadpoles are allergic to germs.
logical enough.

so if you ever see this warning on the side of a bucket, please, whatever you do, do not, put tadpoles in the bucket. if its unavoidable, then for crying out loud, don't touch them!

its the little things

we were at the park yesterday with a friend of mine and her little girl (AWESOME day for it!) and there was a woman there with her two kids. her son was 3 and he and colby became fast friends. they were playing in the dirt with sticks, drawing and digging and whatever boys do with dirt. at one point i was about 20 feet away from where they were playing, trying to keep an eye on both he and molly, and i heard him say
colby: "this is what Jesus died on."
the other mom: "oh, a cross?"
colby: "yes. he died for our sins."

YES! preach it, colby! i have to admit, i was proud. its so encouraging to hear that hes 'getting it.' we talk often about God and Jesus and our salvation. he loves to hear about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins; it's probably his favorite story. i also try to mention throughout the day the things God has done for us and what He has made and blessed us with, etc. i loved hearing him share that with someone else, and correctly! the conversation didnt go any further than that but i was happy that it came up at all.

topic shift....

allen was putting molly to bed a couple of nights ago and he came into colbys room where i was and told me molly was waiting for me. the rocking chair is still in her room and allen thinks she does this back and forth thing with us at bedtime because he leaves her to sit in the rocking chair while shes waiting for me to come in. it must make her feel like a big girl or something. anyway, so i went in and there she sat in the rocking chair in the dark. i scooped her up and sat down with her cuddled up on my lap and i asked her
me: "did daddy pray?"
molly: "yes, he pwayed fo me. he's such a sweet boy."
me: "(giggling a little bit. i still love to listen to her talk, even though its nothing new) he is a sweet boy."
molly: "you're a sweet boy too. daddy loves us."
me: "yes he does."

i just love my kids so much. i hate it when i get frusterated with them or get annoyed with something they're doing, or not doing as it may be. i am so blessed to have them and it's these little, seemingly insignificant things that remind me of that.
thank you, Lord for my sweet babies.

happy scarf day!

2009 is the year of the scarf and today is scarf day!
so save a neck; wear a scarf. and make sure its super cute!