very thankful Sunday

1- We went to church this morning. Always a great start to a new week. Probably my least favorite part of moving {yes, even less than saying 'see you later' to two years worth of friends and packing everything we own} is finding a new church. Unfortunately, Rob and I have some pretty specific things we like... and don't like... in a church. If you've ever had THAT church -- you know the one that feels like HOME -- and have had to move away from it, you know that it is devastating. Every church from here on will be measured against that church. Herein lies the problem. Nowhere will ever be there. But you can't let that beat you. You have to keep looking and find a church which feels, maybe not like home, but like somewhere you can find a niche... make your own home away from home. So, anyway... church this morning was good. And it was the second time we visited the same church. It may not end up being the one we stick with, but at least we haven't let the search defeat us. We got up. We dressed. We got in the car. We went. We were in the pews. We worshipped. It was nice.

2- The kids and I joined Jane and Little Miss Ava at the SplashZone this afternoon for some good ol' fun in the sun... and water... and sand. This place was AWESOME! Not only is there a zero entry pool, complete with turn-the-lever-water-shooters, but there was also a lazy river and a whirlpool! {There were two 'big' waterslides too, but none of the kids were tall enough to ride, so we didn't go there.} Now, what could make this even better? A huge sand box... with water works in there too! So, when the kids needed a break, they would wander over to the sandy area and cover themselves with wet sand. All while they were making rivers and dams. Awesome. {I don't have any pictures from today -- I just couldn't see having to keep a camera dry and sand free in such a place. It was much more fun to actually get to PLAY with my kiddos!}

(since I don't have pictures, here are two of my cuties... in water... does that count?)




3- I watched the season finale of Hot Shot with Rob tonight. Not something I ever wanted to watch, but he hardly ever asks to watch something specific, and he liked this show so we ended up watching the season. After a while, I ended up actually liking it too! And the guy I liked from the beginning won. Yay! {He reminded me of this hottie... yum!}

4- We have a kids' table that our kids love. Over the time we've had it (it was a hand-me-down), it has been splattered with paint and covered with crayon. It is loved. However, it has started to look... well, not so great. While the kids and I were at the SplashZone today, Rob stayed home. He took the table apart and started the sanding process. The table is getting a facelift! I think we're going to make the top a chalkboard -- even though we all know I really, really dislike chalk. But the kids like it.

5- I love my husband. Does it hit you sometimes? Tonight I was sitting here, uploading some pictures from yesterday and it just hit me. I sure do love him. And guess what? He loves me too :-) I'm about the luckiest lady I know!

First Day of School!

Yesterday was the kids' first day back to school -- and Bubba's first day in 'real' school. I can't believe that I have a 3rd grader, a 1st grader, and a Kindergartener {plus my little Bones at home}! Here are some of the pictures from the first day... before school. I took my camera to get some afterschool pictures, but with a heat index of 105, I didn't remember to take any. When I got home, there was a sweat line {TMI?} from where I had the camera slung across my chest to the back. Gross. Very, very hot and very, very gross.

Anyway, here are the pictures!

Cheese for mama!


Ready to GO! look how big their backpacks all look!


Big G


Kicker


Bubba


Is this the look of excitement or what?!? Very proud 3rd grader right there!


Proud 1st Grader - who was happy to already know somebody in her class that moved here from Fort Knox too!


A little bit of a nervous Kindergartener (see his nervous hands?) -- until he saw other boys. Then, he was all "see you mom" :-p


Bones didn't understand why HIS picture wasn't being taken... so I snapped one of him next to Bubba.


It's only about 1/4 of a mile from our house to the school (via a trail through the woods), but it was hot. Did I mention that already (remember that sweat line?!?)? I made Bones walk on the way back -- at least, he walked the downhill portions. By the end, he was throwing his water bottle down and kicking it because he didn't want to carry it anymore. This was taken after one of those episodes. He wasn't really happy anymore.

We've been here for two weeks...

And the MPs have already been called to the house. Oops.

Lesson learned? We need a new phone. The numbers on our old one apparently stick... as in, double dial. Probably not too much of a problem for most people, but when you are making calls to Eastern NC -- with its 919 area code -- and the 1 sticks... that would make 9-1-1, folks.

Mom called home last night and had a misdial, so she hung up. But not before the 9-1-1 call was placed.

In ride the MPs. "Sir, we had a 9-1-1 hangup from this number. Is everything okay?"

Um... yeah. We didn't even know any of it happened! So, this weekend, we will be buying a new home phone. Hopefully one that doesn't stick.

I'm sure we'll have to explain to the neighbors...

Bones-ism

He's old enough to have -isms, I guess. This one is kind of gross, but I thought I'd share anyway.

Bones calls poop "pook" and he'll tell you he "pooked".

So, I was sitting on the couch today and I started smelling something. So, I turned to Bones and asked "Did you pook?"

He turned to me, very seriously pointing his finger at his brother and said, "No. Bubba pook."

He's already blaming somebody else for his funky butt! Isn't he too young for that?!?

{again, sorry for the little picture. Still working the photobucket thing...}

Back to Thankfuls

Now that we are settling back into our 'normal' routine, my goal is to get back to my nightly thanks. So, here are tonight's!

1- We have only two boxes left in the house. Now, that doesn't mean that everything is in its final location, but things are out and visible so they can get into that final destination soon. Yeah, yeah... it's been two weeks.

2- We had a portion of our household goods be placed into 'overflow' status. The kicker... when they delivered the bulk of our stuff, they had no clue when they would be delivering the overflow. Well, now they do. Tuesday. So we will have all of our stuff, finally.

3- Today was a lazy Sunday. And I got to nap. I love to nap on Sunday afternoon.

4- Today is our anniversary. And we have been together. Out of all of our anniversaries, this is only our third to physically be in the same location!

5- Mom and Dad are coming to see us! YAY for family visits!

Now, just because I'm trying to be realistic here... I have a couple of UGHs to post too. Sorry.

UGH: The dishwasher in the new house is quite a bit smaller than the one in the old house. I can't put my bigger pans in it, so I am hand washing most of my cooking dishes. Ugh...

Double Dishwasher UGH: Because the new dishwasher is small, I am having to wash two loads a day! Holy crickets, batman!

PRO: I *have* a dishwasher to wash the majority of my dirty dishes. AND the dishwasher is not a roll out, hook to the sink, kind of dishwasher.

UGH: The new house doesn't have any kind of curtain hardware. Every window has mini-blinds, but no pre-done curtain hangings. SO... we are having to buy all new curtain rods. We brought the old curtain rods, but there's nothing in the wall to hang them on! Ugh...

Okay... those are my ughs. I can't get photobucket to load my pictures right now, so I can't post big pictures, but here are some smaller ones from Waynesville's Old Settler's Day. I will, hopefully, be posting again tomorrow!

*seems all of my pictures of the kids in the water are from the back. That would be because I wasn't getting in that cold water! So, kid backsides it is!

Bones wouldn't get too far from either me or Rob. Since I had the camera, he stuck right to Rob at the water.

That's a good looking bunch right there, if I do say so myself!

Things I learn while fixing my coffee

Today, I learned:

*1*trust your gut
*2*don't judge a book by it's cover
*3*don't be too quick to *fix* something that you aren't positive is broken

That's a lot to learn just from one cup of coffee! Here's how it happened:

I poured my coffee, half&half and SF sweetener into my cup but, for some reason, didn't stir it. I put up the sweetener and half&half but left the room for a minute. When I came back, I couldn't remember if I had sweetened my coffee. I knew that I had put the sweetener back, but couldn't remember if it was when I put the can of coffee itself up. *Lesson #1* Surely I wouldn't have put the sweetener up without using it. I should have trusted that I used it. However... I didn't trust that. So, I added more sweetener. *Lesson #2* The coffee looked dark to me, and I figured that if I didn't add sweetener, I must not have added the half&half either. Instead of STIRRING the coffee to be sure (you know how heavier creams kind of settle), I just added more.

So what did I end up with? Super sweetened half&half with a little bit of coffee.



*Lesson #3*

Lesson #3 can be applied to SO many aspects of my life. Sometimes I find myself jumping in to "help" the kids {and Rob, if I'm being perfectly honest} when, really, they are doing just fine. Maybe they do something differently than I would, but that doesn't mean it is wrong. I need to breathe and watch. Maybe I'll learn a new and better way of doing something!

So, that is what I'm taking from my super sweet, almost undrinkable coffee on the morning. And to make sure the lesson is truly learned? I'm drinking every syrupy drop :-p

My funny, funny children

So... we have internet access again, as of yesterday afternoon. I have lots of catch-up posts to do, but couldn't wait to post some of the funny kid-isms from the last week or so.

#1) F's favorite song is "Rain is a Good Thing" by Luke Bryan. But she doesn't quite get the lyrics right...

Real lyrics:
Rain makes corn,
corn makes whiskey;
whiskey makes my baby
feel a little frisky.

F's version
Rain makes corn,
corn makes biscuits
biscuits makes my baby
feel a little brisket.

So... this song will forever be the biscuit song to us.

#2) F also told her daddy today that she remembered when Bones was a baby and we had to stop the car so I could milk him. Pretty sure she remembers me NURSING him... not MILKING him!

#3) Bubba and G were watching something on tv that they probably shouldn't have been watching today. They were watching 10 Most Amazing Pregnancies {I can't find the link...} and one couple was a transgendered couple -- both women -- where the 'man' found out s/he was pregnant. G flipped out. What?!? A man is having a baby? So I tried to explain that she was biologically female but felt herself to be male. Don't think she 'got' it, but it was nothing compared to Bubba's explanation:

She's only a girl on the bottom. See, it's a boy on the top. His hair is short and his voice sounds *like this* {said in his best deep voice}. I almost fell out laughing.

#4) Bones has a new trick. We didn't know he knew this... but he will let you know when he wants you to "COME HERE"! I'm having trouble with video, but hopefully it will work...