Figures...

Back a few weeks ago we bought the new washer. We decided we would hold off on the new dryer for a while.

Today...

THE FREAKING DRYER WENT OUT!!!!!

So we will be getting a new one now I suppose. Looks like redneck laundromat around here....clothes hanging on anything that will sit still. Figures...

Sorry I dozed off...

For reasons that I do not understand, I could not get my brain in gear last night at class. During lecture I kept finding myself tuning out and being off in la la land (which is much more fun than lecture anyway). At one point I snapped back to reality and actually heard my teacher say (I wrote it down so I would get it right), "You always want to keep your tacks separate from you paper clips." WHAT?!?!?! Did I miss something? Isn't this Biology?

Scientists are weird. Sorry Mom, I speak truth.

Confucious Say...

Too Fast...

Guess who is walking?!?!?! He can take 4 to 5 steps at a time. Did someone forget to tell him that he is still only 9 1/2 months old?

Out of the pit...

I am still reeling. I am still so full of the Spirit.

My mom and I went to Tyler on Saturday for the Beth Moore conference along with some of my friends from church. I had no idea what a major deal this was. It was simulcast to over 500 churches in North America (150,000+ people). Mom and I were just a few rows back from the front. If any of you have ever done a Beth Moore study or if you know who she is, you undoubtedly know what an awesome tool of God she is. Yesterday was her shining moment. I have NEVER heard a message with so much passion behind it. The basis of the conference was her book, Get Out of That Pit ( I mentioned it a while back), which I have read already once (and will be reading several more times).

I want so badly to be eloquent enough to express the impact this had on me. Words fail me. The final time of worship at the end was just almost too much. My chest felt as though it was about to burst (check out Travis Cottrell). Hopefully, in time I will find better words. I am renewed and re-energized and ready to finally get over some things I have been dealing with. And I got to share this wonderful day with my mom!! God is sooooo good!!!

I had a nice visit with both my mom and Jason's mom. Lesa (MIL) was supposed to fly out yesterday while my mom and I were gone, but due to the nasty wind her flight was canceled. So we got another night of both moms! We went to dinner and then my mom took Lesa back to Lubbock with her after church this morning.

It was such a GREAT weekend!

Bad Blog Mommy

I know I have been a bad blog mommy. I have a defense though. My mother in law and my mom are in town. I promise I will have a great post after tomorrow. I am going to something VERY exciting tomorrow with my mom.

I cut almost 5 inches off my hair today. So much lighter!!!!

That is all...

Attack...

My hair is out of control. It is taking on its own identity in our home.

Let me start at the beginning. When Jason and I first met I had dark, shoulder length-ish hair. I was in the process of growing it out from a rather unfortunate short haircut (everyone loved it but me *shrug*). Soon after we started dating I went back blond. I must say I feel I have a special right to go back and forth between blond and dark. After all, I was naturally blond for 19 years and I figure God thought I looked good that way too. Anyway, Jason liked the blond. I have been letting my hair just grow and grow. It is insanely long right now. To my waist almost. Jason loves it long. Chase also loves it. I am pretty sure Chase just thinks it is a play toy I carry around with me. He pulls it and laughs. He also likes to wrap his hands in it when I rock him to sleep. It is precious. Austin has always liked petting my hair...since he was a tiny baby. Brodie also loves to brush my hair. It is too sweet.

I am tired of my hair. I like it long. I don't think I will go above the shoulders again until I am in my 40s. BUT, I know it is too long now because I just throw it in a ponytail everyday. I do, however, do my hair properly on Sundays for church.

I think I know what I want to do with my hair, but Jason is scared I am going to chop it all off. I am telling you...too much of our family conversation revolves around my hair. It has taken over.

God-Wrestler

I want to be a God-Wrestler (Read Gen 32:22-FF)

I want to ask and beg and plead and stay in His presence until I am blessed.

Hmmmm...

Funny Guy...

Chase is now nine months old. Yes, nine! Where the time has gone I can not tell you. He has discovered that he is funny. He thinks he is the most hilarious creature ever created....go ahead ask him. He is doing so much. The baby days are passing all too quickly. He has been standing alone for a few months now, but he is getting ready to walk. He pushes things around the house and walks behind them a little too well for my taste. We have yet to get a picture, but he LOVES to take the laundry out the baskets. He takes it very seriously too. Jason plays this game where he will keep throwing the same piece of clothes back in the basket and each time Chase will throw it BACK out with a little more force than the time before. He is into EVERYTHING. And I do mean everything. The people who make him smile most? THE BROTHERS!!! He thinks Austin and Brodie are almost as funny as he is. He also loves table food. He has gotten to the point he will not eat baby food anymore. I do buy him the Graduates meals and snacks and he likes those. But traditional baby food gets the ugly face made at it and the spoon pushed away. He doesn't really talk yet, but he blabbers all the time. He does say something that resembles Mama and Dada. When he is upset and looking for me he crawls around saying, "Mamamamamamamamamamamamamama". He says Dada all the time as well. Brodie and Austin are convinced he says, "Bubba" to them. (we call all our boys Bubba....I know we are redneck)

Well, I am off to watch Superman Returns with all the boys. I am not interested at all, but my presence has been requested.

Study Study...

This is where I have been all evening...studying. I have a major exam tomorrow. I hate the first exam in any class. You never know what to expect. Will they test more out of the book or more out of lecture? I am not worried about doing poorly, but nursing school is competitive to get in to AND if I do well on all the exams I can skip the final. So I am aiming for an A!

My New Love...

Love Day...

Happy Valentine's Day to all!!!

My mom was always really good with the holiday thing. We always had something for holidays. Valentines day morning we always got some kind of candy and a little stuffed animal of some sort. She was good with that kind of thing. I try to be good too. I remember as I got older how I appreciated that my mom still thought of us in those ways. These are the animals the boys woke up to this morning. Austin and Brodie got boxing gorillas (we have to have the same or we fight) and Chase got a tiger. They loved them and have dragged them around everywhere. Austin told me, "WOW Mom, you got us Valentine's too?!?! That is so cool!". So nice to be appreciated!

Reflection...

I have been in a reflective, introverted mood lately. The introverted part is very unusual for me. I can't even articulate quite what is going on in my head, but it is positive. It is going in a good direction.

The cleaning and organizing we have been doing lately are somewhat symbolic of what is going on inside as well. Just need to clear out some junk and get things in their proper order. Makes thinking clearer, makes life easier.

Wrestle Mania...

Of course when I get out the camera they stop wrestling, but it was HILARIOUS. Chase was growling and attacking Austin and Brodie, who were laughing so hard they couldn't hardly breathe. It was great.

Jason decided to take a personal day today and just hang out with us. It was nice. We don't often get him home during the day on weekdays. We spent a lot of the weekend deep cleaning and working on a few rooms of the house. I continued some of that today and he did a little painting. We have decided to stay in this house for at least another year so we are finishing up some projects we wanted to do. We also bought a new washer today. I am WAY excited about it (doesn't take much to excite a woman with a lot of laundry). It is a front loading machine that is huge. With 5 people in this house we have an insane amount of laundry and keeping up is just nearly impossible. This thing has the capacity to wash a king set of bedding. It can wash 22 bath towels in one load. SO AWESOME! It gets delivered Thursday. YAY!

It is amazing how smooth my days go when Jason is home. It is just easier with an extra set of hands and an adult to talk to.

Burning down the house...

Jason and Austin went to visit the local firehouse with the tiger scouts today. Austin was just in AWE! Firemen are the coolest.

We have had a pretty laid back weekend. Yesterday we went to the Northpark mall (SNOB ALERT) and looked around. Then we worked on the house a little. Today was just our normal church routine. I have said it before and I will say it again. We are lucky that we have the church that we do. Our Sunday School class has really been phenomenal and continues to be.

I wish I had more to say, but I am still battling some nasty sinus headaches and just can't stare at the computer right now. I do have some things to say though (hopefully tomorrow) about our move to Dallas and the reasons it is proving to be the right decision.

Hope you have all had an awesome weekend!

Let it Snow...

I forgot to post this picture...it was taken on Feb. 1st when it snowed here. The boys had too much fun.

Real post tomorrow. For now I am going to go watch a movie with all my boys.

Glow...

I just love candles. That is all....

Hot Stuff...

And you thought it was just a nickname???

This happened while I was gone to class last night. It is classic Chase. He is into EVERYTHING!

Give me my jolt...

Some mornings just call for an extra jolt...

Today was one of those mornings. I love Tuesday morning Bible Study...BUT it takes me a while to get in that frame of mind. Today Starbucks helped me get the rest of my body in gear. We get up early every morning, but I usually don't have to REALLY get going until later in the morning. Maybe if I got more than a few hours sleep a night that would help. Or if I could just sleep for one SOLID hour. Hey, there's a thought!

Need more time...

I wish I had more time to post something GREAT today, but I am supposed to be doing my lab paper as it is. So I thought I would post a quicky post.

*Took Chase to the doctor today to let our doctor look at his hand (that he burned yesterday). Luckily, while it is a second degree burn it was mostly superficial. Since it is on his palm and keeping his hands clean is nearly impossible (the kid is NEVER still), he gave us some meds for it and we are attempting to keep it bandaged for a few days.

*The drawing above was done by Brodie. When we picked him up from Sunday School class he said, "Mommy I drew you as an angel". Boy does that kid know how to butter ya up!

*My lab paper is boring me to tears...seriously.

*I would rather be cleaning toilets...it is that bad.

Rough Day...

It's been a rough day around here. Jason and I started off our day on the wrong foot and found ourselves butting heads with each other (nothing serious, just stupid stuff). Then Austin fell walking out of church. My sinus headaches are getting worse. Then Chase burned himself. We didn't think he could reach the vaporizer....we were wrong. Thank you Jesus that it wasn't serious, but it did make his little hand red for quite some time. Motrin and a good cry and now he is napping with his Daddy. Just not our day...

Perfect is overrated...

My kids are in no way perfect. Shocked?? Didn't think so. Seriously, I have been thinking a lot lately about the lofty standards we set for our kids sometimes. I am a firm believer in positive parenting. I fail miserably at it a lot of the time, but I try. However, some people take it too far. Your child needs to know failure. Austin is teaching me this lesson. I used to let him win at board games a lot. I don't anymore. He got to where if he lost at something he came unglued. Over the past year or two he is learning to lose more gracefully....sometimes. That is just one example of course. I think we are so worried about our kids' self esteem that we forget that they eventually have to leave our nest and live in the real world. They have to know rejection, and failure. The lesson I hope my kids learn is that failure is an opportunity to try again. We need to teach our kids that even when they fail, mess up, or fall down, that we as their parents still love them to the ends of the earth and back. Most importantly, I want my kids to know that no matter what that Jesus loves them. That is all that matters.

STRIKE!

I think a career in the PBA is not in my future. For the record, I switched balls and my scores got better. I never said I was a good bowler.

Too Soon...

My first born turned seven years old today. It doesn't seem possible. This child has brought me more joy than I will ever be able to tell him. He still makes me laugh, he still makes me proud, he still makes me scream, he still awes me.

To my dearest Austin,

I will always love you no matter what. You have made my life better just by being in it. I thank God every day that he allowed me the awesome job of being your mom.

Love,
Mommy