Old McDonald...

...had a farm... and he might just be the guy at the end of the road! :) Maybe I should back up a bit. We submitted an offer, they countered, we accepted. Wow... did I just type that? We are under contract for a farm! Well, I still call it a farm, it's so small it's really more of a "property" but in our hearts we'll soon have our farm! This vision is in its very beginning stages... but. This is step one. Get the land. Our closing date is scheduled for June 25. I need to get some pictures next time we're out there. If all goes to plan (which it rarely does, so this may change) we will officially own a farm by the end of June! How exciting! The *only* thing that might *possibly* change things is the Army Corp of Engineers, they have to come out and survey the wetlands to give us our boundry lines of where we can build & what we can't touch. If for some reason the wetland report would come back signifigantly more than what the current owners thought, we may have to look elsewhere. But, we know at least an acre of the property is wetlands... as long as its no more than 2 acres total we'll be fine & will love protecting our little piece of Charleston.

So about this farm... there's nothing but a lot of weeds, tree's and a big fat dream sitting out there right now... (the dream being my little imagination going wild with possibilities) In other words, its vacant land. The front 3/4 acre is cleared. The rest of the acreage is wooded or wetlands. The plan (which again, is very subjective) is to build a "cottage" for my Mother In Law to retire in. We should be able to complete the cottage within a year & our family will move into that while we work towards building our "big" house. After the main house is completed my Mother In Law (who will be retiring in 4 years) will move into the cottage. As to the farm side, we plan to move the first large greenhouse onto the land right away. The greenhouse is 96x30 feet (huge) which will give us a chance to put all 75,000 palm tree & Japanese Maple seedlings we currently have at our peanut of a house into pots so they can really begin their growth. At some point, hopefully by the end of the summer, we'll move a matching greenhouse next to the first which will be for our aquaculture farm. This greenhouse will be home to two large tanks of tilapia (about 2500 fish) which will then provide the appropriate nutrients on a hydroponics system to the rest of the garden plants in that greenhouse. This greenhouse will house all hydroponic plants which will enable us to have a completely chemical free organic garden which will hopefully be large enough in about a year to fully supply all our fruit & veggie needs along with regular donations to our church food pantry. (That's the goal anyways, we'll see how fast they reproduce) I can't wait. My veggie list keeps on growing, I can't wait to start the canning process & get some of the fruit tree's going as well! We'll probably have a miniature orchard somewhere close to the greenhouses for fruit/nut tree's as they'll grow too large for the greenhouse. We found some pear tree's that have 3 different kind of pears on one tree! And an avacado tree that produces avacado's the size of small footballs! WOW. Then we want orange, banana, plum, cherry, apple & a few pecan tree's as well. If we get all miniature tree's they'll only take up a small footprint while producing full size fruits. I'm super excited about that.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... the first step is closing. Once we've made it past the closing table we'll need to get the footers poured for the cottage, and that isn't a cheap venture. Oh, and did I mention we're going to try our darndest not to take out a construction loan? That's why this might take awhile... if we pay as we go it'll save us thousands upon thousands of interest money however the process will completely depend on how the tree business is faring. So as long as the tree business continues to thrive, we'll slowly put our vision into reality.

Sorry this was so long, but I needed to write these things down. I'm so excited & thankful... God is amazing. His timing is perfect and we are continually blessed. The process is slow, and its hard to be patient... but I continue to pray on a daily basis that we are in the center of God's will for our lives. That is above all most important. This farm is our mission, a vision... and a huge step away from the "norm" But instead of wishing the waiting period would fly by we've decided to embrace this moment. We're excited about the future, but also excited about this moment. Today.

As for this moment, we've had some fun times lately. I have two new girlfriends, Sue & Jane that I am convinced are angels in disguise. They are both the most incredible mama's and are raising their children in the image of Christ. Such a breath of fresh air. I adore these girls. Today we spent the day together at a playdate. Jane made a wonderful quiche that we all enjoyed and then made loaves of bread to send home with Sue & I. WOW! The kids had a great time as they always do together. I just love this crew. Their kids are precious, a perfect compliment to these beautiful women.

Also, Madeline got her first big girl hair cut this afternoon! Nothing too drastic, but we cut almost 4 inches off the back. *sniff* She was starting to look a little like an orphan child with her mop top hair always in her eyes. Now she has a cute little bob that looks adorable on her. So fun and exciting. :)

Elizabeth is beyond ready for Kindergarten. If ever I was worried, she has spent the week convincing me that she is eager to learn. I loaded up on some kindergarten/first grade work books this week & she has spent hours every day working on them. She is now confident in small word reading & is slowly getting the "sh" "ch" and "th" sounds down. She is also getting better at counting (something she was very behind on). I am confident that by the end of the summer I will have a full blown reader on my hands. She is such a stinker, but such a joy to be around. As she approaches 5 years old I find myself looking forward to times when I can take her with me on a mommy daughter date, just the two of us. She is maturing at an alarming speed, but still has some toddler left in her for mommy to enjoy & cuddle.

Speaking of toddler, Madeline is speaking in full sentances now. True, they are never proper sentances, but gone are the days of pointing and shouting 1 word. She'll now say "More outside time please!" or "Maddy need wipe for messy hands mama" which actually comes out sounding like "Maddy need wipe fo meshy heens mama" She talks from the time she wakes up, to the time she passes out for her nap or at night. And she runs. Everywhere. All the time. The child has one speed and it's full force ahead. My poor girl has more bruises on her head and knees from running into tables, walls & anything else that stands in the path of my little hurricane baby. But though I am one tired mama at the end (and sometimes beginning) of every day. My children are such a joy in my life. No matter how cloudy my outlook at times, a simple slobbery kiss from my toddler or a whispered I love you from my 4 year old can turn my entire day around. :)

So now that this post is approaching a novel length, I'll sign off. I'll be sure to update as we find out more on the farm! Pictures to come soon. :)

Waiting.

Did anyone ever tell you not to pray for patience because God will send you problems to teach you patience? You know, patience is a virtue, it must be learned and cannot be given? Yeah... I don't pray for patience. Ever. Never ever ever. I know better. My children challenge my patience daily and I can honestly (and sadly) say that I have a long way to go before I'll have mastered the art of patience... however there's another area of my life where I'm being taught patience. The farm. Jay & I both felt like God was calling us to create a farm... over 2 years ago. We were (and still are) excited. We were (and are) ready. We said "Where God? Send us! We'll go!" We were ready. Or so we thought... we've prayed. and prayed. and prayed. God show us where you want us to be. Show us the farm you'd have for us. Teach us to wait on your timing Lord so we only go where you want us to be. Your will be done.

In case you didn't catch that... "Teach us to wait on your timing" can be translated to "teach us patience" oops. lol We mean it. Still do, and still pray for God's perfect timing. But the waiting process is admitedly hard. God is shaping our vision of the farm... a place where people can come and rest. A place to grow tree's instead of taking them down. A place to get back to our roots & grow our own food, make a smaller carbon foot print & build a recycled home. We are excited about our vision, and we know it's from God. Without a doubt we know that our farm will provide us a place for friends and family to come and just be... be quiet... be with family... be away from the city... be surrounded by nature... just... be. I long for those moments and am so excited to see what God has in store for us. I struggle with the waiting period. We've prayed and asked God what He's waiting for... then prayed for forgiveness for our impatience... then prayed again that God would show us where he wants us to be... then prayed once more for forgiveness for our impatience. It's a slow lesson to be sure but I know that somewhere out there the perfect place for us is waiting... a place where I can home school my girls, teach them to look beyond their front door and explore their world...

We've found a piece of land that we are prayerfully considering... it *might* just be the one.

If its not, we know God will open the right door in His time so that doesn't worry me... but I have to say, this property takes my breath away... it's so beautiful. It is truly like stepping into another world. A mix of Narnia, a beautiful rainforest and an empty meadow of lush green grass... all on one farm. It's small, much smaller than we'd envisioned, but again, God is shaping our vision to what we need and what He can use.... which is anything. We'd hoped for 15-30 acres close to town... this property is merely 5. Five small acres, part of which is protected wetlands and thus unbuildable. I don't know why my heart is so excited about this property aside from the fact that it is undeniably the most beautiful property we've looked at during our long 2+ year search... It is close to town. Close to our church. But also far enough from the city to see the stars, hear the crickets & smell the clean air in the morning. Lord I pray this is the one for us. If it isn't please give us the strength to walk away and trust in You completely to provide. If it is the one, please open the door wide open and give us peace.

We are submitting an offer in the morning... praying for guidance... thankful for grace, and looking forward to what is to come.

Updates!

Okay, so I am SUPER excited and wanted to update a few things. First of all, all this dieting has REALLY helped my metabolism... my energy levels have skyrocketed which is crazy awesome. The last few days I have scrubbed my house to a sparkling shine & organized closets, caught up on laundry, etc. Lots of things I'd been behind on... it feels so good. AND I've officially lost 17.5 lbs this month! Hard dieting and exercising, not to mention the workout I get from scrubbing my house has really paid off! I'm almost half way to my goal!!!! I know the first 20 is the easiest and the next 20 (22.5) will be much harder, but I'm so excited that all my clothes are getting a bit baggy. Love it! I'm down 2 sizes in jeans already. Ahhhh feels good. So anyway, the kids are in shock. Mama has been getting up at 6:30 so by the time they wake up at 9 I'm already mostly done with my housework each day so we get to spend the whole day playing and goofing off together. They love it, I hope this energy thing lasts... I love having energy still when Jay get's home from work. It's been nice staying up and spending time with him. Usually when he get's home its dinner, bath, bed time for the girls & then I'm usually asleep shortly after they are. But the last few days I've been able to stay up, watch movies, plan our budget together, etc. Sooo nice. Anyway. Feeling good and slightly smaller! Just wanted to share! :D

Progress.

Well, I'm down another 2.5 lbs. It's been a long week, but I do have more energy which is very helpful. We had our bi yearly bug spray yesterday which always makes for a crazy day... We have a pond/lake behind our house so the mosquitoes & palmetto bugs (aka roaches) are always plentiful in our backyard & garage... and when the weather warms up we start seeing them inside too. Gag. That's what you get for living in a 30 year old house with crappy insulation... So every 6 months we have someone coat our yard in an environmentally friendly layer of bug zapper, as well as the garage, kitchen and bathrooms. Which means on that day we can't come home until everything dries. However yesterday, he decided to do some new gloss under our sinks, fridge & stove to prevent any bugs from being able to live there, ever. Which is fabulous & I'm all for it (I have a pretty bad bug phobia, crazy yelling & chasing the mosquitoes around until I squish them is fairly common in the house... my kids refer to it as "ew buggy buggy mommy's crazy!") ...what I didn't realize is that we can't USE our sinks, dishwasher, stove or anything that will warm up the kitchen until the gloss sets... which takes 5 days. who what?! I just paid $ for someone to incapacitate my kitchen for a week. Crap. It was worth it I guess... I mean, no ants, no squitoes, no roaches ever again? I'll believe it when I see it... but for now, we'll be dining in the play room for a week on cold cuts & fruit. Yesterday was a loooong day. We cleaned in the morning, played at the park with some friends until lunch time, drove over an hour to meet daddy across town, ran a few errands for him, went to Ye Old Fashioned for yummy ice cream, picked up some Milk & Candyland 3D onsale for $3. Then came home, played the game, had dinner in the playroom (yep, you guessed it, cold cut sandwhiches) and then they both passed out at 6:30. Yes, we did the whole day with no naps. Eeks. Always a risk... but it worked out okay & they both slept hard and didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning. :)

As for my diet, I'm not working out nearly as much as I want to. Screw the 3-5 times a week with arms/abs in between... I'm lucky if I hit the DVD 2-3x's and remember my arms and abs once on my days off. But I'm trying. Having more energy is making me a braver mom, I take the kids out on longer play dates, am willing to wear them out and tolerate the melt downs when I cut it too close. Normally I don't play that game, we're very routine people but it's nice being outside & enjoying this weather more and letting the routine slide a bit. I'm looking forward to a summer full of park dates, pool time & sandcastles at the beach! I have the girls closet stocked for summer, and I've made over 75% of it myself from great deals on fabric! Woot!

Anyway, just wanted to update. My jeans are getting a bit baggy. And I'm perfectly happy with that. :)

Curveball.

Granted this is public, but seriously, who really reads it? I'm about to take this blog to a new level of personal. That's right baby... it's diet time. I had a major curveball thrown at me last week while visiting the doctor. Well, let me back up first. Anyone who knows me very well (or knew me at all while I was pregnant the second time) is aware that I had some serious depression while pregnant with Madeline. I was miserable in my body, got sick way too many times, and had the doctors from hell steering my big behind in the wrong direction for 9 months... all that to say, while it improved after I gave birth, it was still enough that I was miserable, scared & needed some help. I went to my doctor and he suggested I try Celexa, an anti-anxiety/depression med that would help me mellow out a bit. I've now been on the Celexa for nearly 2 years and frankly, the difference in me is amazing. Where I was once so high strung I would snap at the slightest whisper of trouble, I'm now able to handle life in a more relaxed, take it as it comes way. I've thought about going off of it several times, but if a tiny pill keeps me less angry with my husband and kids, dude... bring it. I'd much prefer to be mellow. I've lived the high strung life, and maybe when my kids are older & I'm ready to tackle that hurdle when I don't think I'm going to scar them for life with my crazy high's & lows... I'll go off of it. But for now, the whole house is better off with mama chilled out. SO last week I went in for my annual check up & to renew my perscription when my doctor casually mentions my weight. God I hate when they talk about it... at the time of last weeks visit I was exactly 20 lbs less than when I gave birth two years ago, which is exactly the weight I was when I left the hospital with Madeline. Haven't lost a single pound since I gave birth to her. And yes, that's 45 lbs over what I was when I got pregnant with Madeline. I seem to gain ungodly amounts of weight when pregnant despite eating healthy for the most part. It's really ridculous, both of my pregnancies I gained 60-65 lbs in 9 months. After Elizabeth I was back to my pre baby weight minus an additional 10 lbs when she turned a year old. Madeline however was a different story. I've yet to bother dieting, preferring to play ignorant pretending we don't have a scale, and who needs it anyways?

Well... at last it's time for some decisions. My doctor said I really need to lose about 40 lbs to be in my healthy range. Ouch! I can't say I'm disappointed in myself because really, aside from hating dresses, shorts & swim suits... it really doesn't bother me that I'm the biggest I've ever been aside from when I was pregnant. However, when you mention health I'm a little more logical. I know I'll feel better about myself & my body if I lose some weight. My self confidence is pretty much shot, I prefer to mock myself before others get around to it... but I don't seem to mind it enough to actually do anything about it.

And there lies the problem. I'm now going to try to lose about 40 lbs simply because my heart & body will be more healthy for it. Everything else is sort of non important... but being healthy is a priority, I go out of my way to be sure my kids are in excellant health, yet somehow I've let my own healthy choices fly out the window. Not any more. Starting last week (the morning after my doctor visit) I put myself on a strict work out/diet routine. Yes I'm not one who will lose weight just by eating healthy... I need to diet. Strict, hard core, kick my butt diet. It's the only way for me... once I reach my goal I can maintain pretty easily... but the actual losing part will require lots of work.

I'm happy to report that 1 week in, I'm already down 10 lbs. Which, is mostly b/c I'm sweating off all the water that I normally drink. The first 7 lbs came off within 3 days simply by eating LESS. The next 3 lbs have come from taking in less calories than I'm burning. Dana recommended a great at home work out DVD which is kicking my butt. I'm only on level 1 and it leaves me breathless, exhausted & wanting more at the end of each work out. I was soooo stinking sore those first few days, but I'm getting better at it. My goal is to do a hard work out 3-5 times a week and at least work my arms & abs on the all the off days as that's where I need the most work. Arms & tummy. Ew.

Hopefully by the end of summer I'll have hit my goal weight. My goal is our anniversary in September... if I do hit my weight, I'll be in desperate need of clothes that fit as I have nothing saved from my smaller days. I guess that's not exactly a "bad" problem to have though. lol I love shopping so more motivation right?

I'll try to update every week or two on the weight stuff. It'll be good for me to be accountable to my blog. LOL Bring on the curveball! Let's lose this weight!

Easter.

Easter 2010 happened to be an insanely gorgeous day for celebrating the resurrection. We made a weekend out of it, spending Saturday with grammy and Sunday with Nanie & Pawpaw. I had planned all week to visit the Summerville Easter Egg hunt at Azalea Park Saturday morning with the girls for lots of Easter fun. However we over slept, decided to work out & then hit the hunt in the afternoon as I thought it was at 1pm... nope. The kids hunt was at 10am. Oops. You can't just tell your kids "sorry guys, mom's mistake, maybe next year?" Nope. I had promised an egg hunt & gosh darn it we were going to have an egg hunt. So off to grammy's house we go where we hid 42 eggs filled with jellybeans & grammy had Easter presents waiting for the girls! Liz was thrilled to find the Princess & The Frog DVD in her grammy loot. Grammy also found matching outfits for the girls which made me smile... we all know what a fruit loop I am about matching my girlies. We followed our fun (no nap) day up with dinner at Wasabi. Now I realize most people don't think of Easter dinner involving Japanese food... but seeing as how I had a coupon, and Linda & I are sushi nuts... we decided Wasabi was a great place to celebrate together. Mm mm mm. Sooo delicious. Following our delicious food we rolled ourselves on over to church for the Saturday night service. It was amazing... our worship team is really incredible. They are such a talented group & never cease to amaze me. What a celebration it was & with tears in my eyes we ended our evening thankful for the grace we've been given so freely which cost so very much... He is risen... indeed! Sunday morning I left my girls devouring their Easter candy & playing happily in their new swim suits, flip flops & beach towels which I put in their baskets every year. (I figure I'm going to buy them new suits anyway, why not put them in their Easter baskets?) So off I go (in a dress no less, which is highly rare for me) to church to serve in the nursery all morning. What a great morning it was. We had 10 babies in nursery for one of the services and somehow I was lucky enough to get the 6 week old angel baby who was so tiny and precious I absolutely melted. He snuggled into my arms for an hour while I blissfully remembered those early days with my babies... such a special Easter gift for me. Who needs candy when you have a sweet little one to rock and love for an hour & then give back when they get hungry?! Not I! After nursery duty we spent the day at my mama's... which was more fun with the candy, clothes, big baskets, lots of thankfulness and amazing food. Whew it was a crazy weekend!

Here's a couple pics of the craziness!

Family pic...

Mommy & Daddy's Easter Basket goodies!

Easter Dresses - Sister lovin - 2010

Busy Weekend...

Well the kids finally got over their yuckies... thank you Jesus... I think I did about 300 loads of laundry every day while they were ill. No fun. Last weekend Summerville hosted its annual Flowertown Festival where all the local crafty vendors get together with local businesses and restaurants & everyone puts on a good show. We had a booth at the festival so the girls spent 3 very long days with no naps staying with us from 8-5 each day. Sooo tiring. It was lots of fun though. They played in the grass behind our booth which happened to be on a hill so there was lots of fun to be had rolling down the hill. Grass stains and dirty hands galore! Liz got her face painted like a peacock and we all ate WAY too much amazingly unhealthy delicious food. I spent $18 one day on the best sushi ever but decided that was way too expensive to do more than once, the rest of the time we stuck with Italian sausages, cheeseburgers & cheap hotdogs. Blech. I made a maple honey glazed ham & garlic roasted mashed potatoes last night to counter all the picnic food of the weekend. I've got a couple great pics from the last few days... my girls are so crazy.

AND I have some news... there's a possibility that I'll be going back to work as an At Home Travel Agent for a Disney Only company here in Charleston! It's all in the works and nothing is final yet, but I've been searching long and hard for a way to get back in the industry that I love. And I'd really like to specialize in Disney Vacations. SO... I'll know more in the next few days as we sit down & chat more to be sure our goals/interests are the same.

So anyways, here are the pics:

Lizzy got her facepainted like a peacock!

My sweet girlies at Charlestowne Landing

Madeline trying out her bed with no rails!

It was a fun crazy weekend... my big splurge of the weekend was 4 bottles of organic muscadine juice. Heaven I tell you, at $7 a bottle it better be. LOL Every sip is like a mouth full of fresh grapes... no sugar or water added... just fresh squeezed muscadine grapes... Mmmmmm... As I type I'm sipping this deliciousness and savoring each mouth watering sip. Life is good. :)

Fevers. Fun. Frantic.

My poor children. I swear I sometimes wonder when child services is going to show up on my doorstep & say "You know, this is just one time too many." I accidentally gave Madeline food poisoning yesterday... Worlds Best Mom Award goes to...

*sigh* I fed her some chicken soup for lunch that apparently had gone bad. I didn't taste it first, I don't warm up her soup usually because she just wants ice cubes to cool it until its cold. So I pulled it out of the fridge, stirred it up & served it with a smile. She gobbled it down and within 5 minutes was projectile vomitting. Yeah, apparently someone (*coughdaddycough*) forgot to cover the soup the day before.. and then popped a top on it early the next morning. Which was plenty of time for it to go bad. Anyway. Poor girl had it coming out both ends all day... and night... and off & on today. And right about the time she was back to normal, low and behold... Liz get's ill! This time I'm pretty sure it was not of my doing. She has an ear infection. This would be her 3rd one I think. Three in 4 1/2 years isn't too bad, but still. Poor girly is running a crazy high fever and hasn't eaten anything all day long. And then about 30 minutes after falling asleep she woke up and got sick all over her bed & pj's. So we had a late night bath & some new sheets & pj's. Unfortunately her "B" which accompanies her everywhere took a serious hit so it's in the washer as I type. Which makes for a rather miserable girly.

Anyway. Fevers are no fun. But I will say I love love love my temporal thermometer. Thank you Jesus for the (wo)man who invented that stroke of brilliance. Taking my kids tempature is no longer a battle and horrible experience, it's now so easy that half the time they sleep through it. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. If your kids have to be sick... this is a huge help. I recommend them to everyone.

Hoping my girls are 100% soon! I hate seeing them sick! We had a fun morning despite all the craziness. Maddy woke up feeling great (although she was filling her drawers at a rapid rate it didn't slow her down one bit) & Liz was fine this morning so I packed them up and we went to MOPS at the Longpoint Campus. It was lots of fun. Lizzy made a new friend in church a few weeks ago, and her mama is a super sweet gal. So we've been hanging out a bit. Sue has 2 girls, Cadance who's 5 (SUCH a sweetheart. Liz absolutely adores her.) and Lana her precious 13 month old (who Maddy's taken quite a liking to) and who has the biggest most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen on a baby. So sweet. Anyways.. Sue & brought her girls (and niece) to MOPS and then we all went out to lunch afterwards. Lots of fun & craziness with 5 little girls. Two of which were in high chairs, the other 3 had a great time. Liz wasn't hungry and said she was tired, but I figured she was worn out from playing during MOPS... little did I know. By the time we got home she was running a 101.5 fever. She passed out for 2 hours and then woke up with an even higher fever, and this was after the Tylenol.

SO. 1 dose of food poisoning. 1 big fat ear infection. My 2 sweet girls are just havin a rough week(end). Madeline seems to be completely over her nasties now. I'm hoping Liz sleeps well tonight, I get the feeling we may be up quite a bit cleaning sheets & changing pj's. Oh well... such is the life of a mama.

On a very nice note... it was 72 here today! Bliss I tell you, BLISS! I broke out the sandals & sundresses for my little cutie pies. And we all enjoyed the gorgeous sunshine... Spring please come and stay... forever! Summer, Fall & Winter can just kiss my hiney. I'll take spring forever please. =)

Best. Article. Ever.

For all my mama friends worried about those last few pounds... or in my case... 10's of pounds...


Parents Magazine April 2010...
Article on Butts. By Kari Anne Roy.

7 Stages of my New Butt
Getting used to your post-pregnancy booty.

Stage 1 - Denial. This isn't a new butt. It's the same awesome butt you had the day you got married.

Stage 2 - Shock. Well, it's technically the same butt, but for some reason it doesn't fit into the pants you wore last year - before you got pregnant. But there's no way your butt could be so drastically altered by having a baby. Could it? OMG!

Stage 3 - Anger. Fine. It's not the same butt. It has curves and divots and new places that sweat. It follows you wherever you go. Stupid, annoying butt and its stupid, annoying cellulite! Is it possible to get a restraining order to prevent it from stalking you?

Stage 4 - Depression. No dice. It turns out you can't get a restraining order against your own body. And if you inquire about it people laugh at you. And that makes you cry. As do the elastic-waist pants you just bought, even though you are nine months postpartum. Those lying liars who said "nine months on, nine months off" must have gotten to keep their original cute butt.

Stage 5 - Guilt. You are a grown woman. You have a degree. You know that women should be - and are - more than just hot bodies. You know objectification is cruel. You've read the magazine articles that tell you how awesome you are. You created life. And yet... this butt. IT WON'T GO AWAY!

Stage 6 - Fear. You probably have Flesh Expanding Butt Disease. It's very rare but if you get FEBD your butt will eventually consume your entire body, preventing you from leading a normal life. There is no cure for this horrible ailment. Best to just go buy a bunch of sweatpants.

Stage 7 - Acceptance. Right. So it isn't that bad, really. Your new butt does come with some nice features. It's easier to close the car door now. Your kids have something to hang on when you're at the grocery store. And your husband likes it. A lot. In fact, your new butt is kind of growing on you...

Blackmail.

"Hey Mommy guess what?! Maddy's top teeth came in! She pooped really big and they came right in! Isn't that awesome mom?"

I'm saving this one for blackmail when she's 16.

Bizabis.

Madeline used to call Liz sissy. Then she tried saying Lizzy but it came out Sizzy. Now she calls her Bizabis.

And every time I hear it I laugh.

"Bizabis owwww! Bizabis pway wid me. Wub oo Bizabis."

Chatter bug.

I often wonder what goes on in Elizabeth's mind... somehow she manages to connect the most off the wall subjects & relates them to her ever day life. This morning she crawled in bed next to me & started telling me a story. It went something like this:

"Mama, when we say our prayers this is how we keep our eyes closed to listen to our prayers, it makes Jesus happy when we listen to our prayers. I pray to go to a hotel mommy, I want to visit the red hotel where we can choose 2 friends to go to Disney World & sleep in our hotel. You get to pick daddy & I'll pick Maddy. I can bring all my princess dollies to Disney & maybe we can get Maddy matching ones & maybe we can get princess shoes & maybe & I smell something funny, oh yeah I tooted, and maybe we can have Maddys little potty in disney. I can lift Maddy high & show her how to potty, we have to learn her how & we can all girls across & maybe we can make a tiny igloo for me & Mad & where would the door go? & maybe we can make a TV out of our house & then we can put the TV in our igloo & we can pick a movie out & see what one I like & maybe a cat movie with the color rainbow cats. Remember the girl from the place where the man filled the machine with crackers & took all the money?"

And on and on she goes. Where she'll stop, nobody knows. It's hilarious. As long as I look interested & nod my head appropriately she'll keep going. I wonder at the way she can go from talking about princess shoes, to igloo tv's & then vending machines. And that is just the beginning! Given the chance Elizabeth would tell you all the nitty gritty details of daily living in the Clemmons house from the way she stepped on a spider and squished it good, to how often she uses the potty & washes her hands. She'd tell you about the letter "E" which is her favorite of course and then tell you that A starts with Apple. (Yes, that's how she says it.) My chatter bug keeps us entertained that's for sure. I know I'll miss these moments eventually but when you cross the threshold to hour 4 of randomness I confess a small (but growing larger all the time) part of me wants to play the "lets distract her with ANYTHING" game.

I love my Lizzy. She really is a hoot to live with. She's growing so fast... she's so tall & leggy. While Madeline takes after me (a bit squatty with short legs) Elizabeth takes after her Aunt Bethy. I bought their swimsuits at the Gymboree Outlets the other day. They were running all their suits on sale for $12.99 - which is amazing. I can't find them that cheap at Target and these will hold up much better. I got Liz her first big girl 2 piece. It's very modest though... more of a tankini. (Jay flipped out when I told him over the phone about it being a 2 piece, he's VERY conservative when it comes to his little girls, nothing too tight or skin baring is allowed in our house, but once he saw it he grudgingly agreed to taking the tags off & keeping it.) Here's some pics of the girls who immediately had to put their new suits on the moment we got home from shopping.

Yesterday we got to see a vending machine man (hence that part of the story) take out the money and refill the chips. The man looked like he was down & not enjoying his day. But my girls were frozen in interest, watching the "behind the scenes" tour of vending machines. So we waited and watched. I explained each step of the process to them in quiet tones while we watched the man unlock the door, pull it open & empty the change box. Then he pulled out each shelf and refilled the items. All the while Liz & Maddy sat absolutely still watching his every move. I realized this must be very facinating for them so we sat for awhile & just watched. The man overheard me talking to the girls and all of the sudden he became more animated, asking them questions about themselves. Prompting them to ask questions about what he was up to. He showed them where the money goes & how the machine buttons work. And then at the end he let them pick out some crackers for a snack... while the door was still open. Boy did they think that was awesome. Lizzy was in near reverance as she picked out her cheezits & with eyes wide as saucers she whispered "Thank you sir... thank you for my special snack!" I could see the mans chest inflate as he realized his job had made a child smile that day... it was a neat moment for all of us. Lizzy later spent 20 minutes explaining to daddy the thrilling process of refilling vending machines.

That brief encounter made me realize just how big this world is and how exciting it is for my girls to discover new things. The smallest things are thrilling to them.

Last night it occured to me that I have been guilty of skipping over Maddy's foundational education in favor of Lizzy's amazing progress into the world of reading. Every day I work with the girls on letters, sounds, and the exciting process of turning those letters into stories. But last night it dawned on me that while my 2 year old can identify the letters E & M without difficulty... she has no clue what a circle is. She can't color in the lines, and every crayon she picks up is "green". Oops. Big big oops. It was a sad reminder for me that I'm (accidentally) forcing Maddy to grow up far too quickly. She's 2, she's not ready to read. Letters which facinate her should not be on her radar yet. I skipped steps 1 & 2 in favor of the more exciting step 3 but what sort of foundation is that? So what if she can read if she can't understand *what* she's talking about? So back to the basics we go. Today I'm enjoying the smaller process of red circle, blue square & yellow triangle... and yes... the color green. The real one that is.

Rockin the 80's Prom.

Life is full of moments... some of which you can only look back at and laugh at yourself.

Which brings me to my point: 80's Prom. So totally rad dude. ;)

Dear Friend.

Dear Friend, I owe you an apology. I'd apologize in person except that I used the word friend loosley and frankly I'm not sure you could handle an apology in an appropriate manner. However, I'm sorry. When you rang me on the phone this morning, asking me if I'd just got up at 10 am when I'd actually been up since 7... and then proceeded to say how nice it must be to sleep in every morning and not go to work... I'm pretty sure I wasn't very gracious in my response. No, let me edit that. I know I was downright insulted. I realize my scathing reply to your not so kind question of "Do you ever think you'll start working again?" was not as gentle as it should have been. When I replied with "I'm actually working as we speak! I'm multi talented that way. I'm currently the Human Resource Manager for E & M Adventures, in addition to being a full time nurse & part time chef, I also drive a taxi & run a laundromat. In my spare time I babysit 24 hours a day 7 days a week. What was it you do again? Oh yes. Sit at your desk all day & go out to lunch with friends for an hour each afternoon. Gosh... I guess I should think about going back to work soon so I can take a rest!" You thought I was joking. You laughed & said "Yeah yeah I still wish I could sleep in every day." I apologize for hanging up after I replied: "Yeah, me too."

*steps off soap box* Seriously. Do people really think raising kids involves sleeping in every day & no work? Really? Is that what your mother did? Mine certainly didn't. My mom was up before all of us doing laundry before breakfast & after we all went to bed there was usually another basket full of clothes at her feet ready to be folded. Not to mention the never ending list of chores during the day, and finding time to spend with each of us kids. Good grief. Have some common sense please.

Oh well. Phone calls like the one my day started with make me appreciate my own mother, grandmother & the women before them who took the time to teach their daughters right. (Not to say I have it down... Lord only knows I am a far cry from the awesome housewife my mom is but still.) It shocks me how some people think of a stay at home mother...

1 in 5

1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. Since there are 5 people in my family, it must be my mom or dad... or perhaps my older brother Collin. It could be my younger brother Cho-Chow-Ling but I'm pretty sure it's Collin.

-Courtesy of Mrs. H. This made me smile this morning. Which I needed... ever had one of those days when your children are driving so far past the point of crazy that you consider locking them in the house while you run down and max out your credit card at the local liquor store to forget your troubles? No? Hm. Well maybe I'll leave the door unlocked...

Today is just a normal Monday. Kids are tired from our crazy Sunday. Jay is getting on my last nerve with his "Let's be super super productive today!" attitude while I'd just like to let my cold medicine take effect and chill out today. Dag gone productivitey. Whine whine whine. I've had a cold/allergy thingy for over a month now. It comes and goes in phases. Right now its giving me a horrendously sore throat from coughing... which is not fun. Fortunately the kids seem immune to my cold so they're floating right along in the world of 100 mile per hour energy bursts while I'm struggling to get over my little speed bump.

On the upside, I'm cleaning out my house and selling everything we don't currently use/play with/or wear on Craigslist. I saved a few of my favorite outfits of the girls but everything else is going bye bye! I *think* I will love this feeling once it's all sold... for now it just means lots of bags & boxes everywhere while I sort through everything. But when we move onto our farm it'll mean less "stuff" we have to take with us... which is good. Especially considering the fact that while we're building our big house, we'll be moving in to a 2 bedroom mobile home. You got it baby. I am the queen of our double wide trailer with the polyester curtains and the red wood deck. I'm going to have to find some of those tacky pink flamingo's to put out front in celebration of our hillbilly-ness. Should be an interesting year or so.

So I recently reread the Twilight series while I was sick... which makes me wonder, what the heck is in those books? Crack? They're so addicting! Once I start the first book it's like I disappear off the face of the earth until I close the fourth book and even then I immediately think of starting over. I have no idea what the draw is, but I surely love the books. Not the movies so much. Feels a little odd lusting after good lookin teenage boys. LOL But the books are another story. *sigh* I'm so weird.

Lizzy is starting to read (yes I realize how very random this blog post is, but I have a 2 year old yelling in her crib who doesn't want to nap so pardon me for being slightly distracted) where was I? Oh yeah. Liz. Reading. Thank GOD for Leapfrog. The Learning with Leap DVD's have moved Liz from barely being able to identify letters to knowing every letter & it's sound & even how to put them together. We worked for a solid year (I homeschooled her this year) on identifying letters and their sounds... and all it took was 1 week of those DVD's for everything to click. She loves to point at signs and sound them out. I'm searching for some of the old Dick & Jane books but we have some easy readers that she slowly sounds out. It's pretty amazing how fast she's learning everything. I'm also homeschooling her for Kindergarten this year... now THAT will be an adventure. Jay's already committed to helping me with the science parts. (he loves science while I'm more of an indoor girl) so that'll be fun for her. We're using the new online public schooling program called k12. My aunt used it with her 4 kids to great success, so I'm super excited about Liz having the chance to learn at home. As much as she drives me ape wall sometimes, I'm not ready to ship her off to school. I'm looking forward to our time together this fall. Madeline is really wanting to learn too so I may even start her on some of the basics this year. Why not? She's interested! This is partly why I'm not ready to have a 3rd baby. I want to be sure we figure out how to do this whole homeschool thing before I add in the craziness of another mouth to feed/mind to entertain. Anyway... signing her up next week for k12. Looking forward to summer time & laying by the pool!

Enough randomness for the day. I updated the look of the blog... looks kinda homey now. :)

I'm back!

So I sort of fell off the face of the earth there for a ... well... a whole year, but hey. I'm back. It's been 1 year since I updated, life is crazy as ever. Liz turned 4 and started looking forward to her 5th birthday on August 30. Maddy just turned 2 a couple weeks ago, we didn't do a big party for her this year. However she had a great birthday with Linda & the boys on the Saturday before her birthday & another party with my side of the family on Sunday. Needless to say she was spoiled rotten. I'm not really used to this leap day birthday thing yet. It didn't really feel like she had a birthday this year. We celebrated on the 28th as the official day but it wasn't a trip down memory lane like it always is with Lizzy's birthdays. I guess I'll have to get it through my head that its the years that count, not just the actual day.

Anyway! Maddy is up to 26.5 lbs & Liz is right at 42 lbs. The girls are the best of friends and yet the fight every day... usually a half dozen knock down drag out fights a day... but they always hug and make up after them. It's kind of funny actually. Madeline is almost potty trained! I'm SO excited about that. She is doing so great, wakes up dry & has no problem going on command. She is a strange child in that she loves to be naked & play in her poop... not just once, but several times... every week. It's nuts. So we're learning to make her sit on the potty every day before nap time until she poo's in the potty then we're clear for the day. If however she's just not ready to go we inevitably have to clean up a big mess after nap time as she'll go, then quietly decorate her crib with it, then fall asleep and when she wakes up it's dried and nasty. Lots of fun times for mama.

I should be posting some new pics of Madeline here soon! I'm hoping to get her 2 year old pictures taken in the next week or so. I've got some cute idea's for some fun pics. And yes, I'll probably have Liz's taken at the same time... I love sister shots.

So that's it for now. I'll try to check in soon & not leave my blog sadly hanging for another year! :)