Pulling the plug on home phones

I read this article this (put the link of the wrong 'this', but you get the idea) morning, about the number of American households doing away with their landlines. We have given this some serious thought but haven't done it quite yet. Having access to local 911 was the issue I was seeing over and over and it seems this issue has been resolved. Have you all considered this? Have any of you done it?

Olivia-ism

"Rememberies" - memories to remember.

My best friend

I received this email from Tommy this week:

Hi sweetheart, I love you and our children so much. Thanks for all you do. You are the rock of our family and I appreciate all the little things you do to make my life easier- make my coffee and breakfast, do my laundry, take the kids to church to give me some time, watch the kids and care for their every need, taking care of all of our banking and money, changing your life to make ours better.
I love you,

thank you.

Tommy :)

I love you Tommy, more than you will ever know.

Great friends

Logan and Hazel enjoying a bowl of popcorn.

Olivia and Maggie playing outside

-

Maggie and Hazel were recently in Florida for a week. It was one of the L.O.N.G.E.S.T. weeks of our lives! Olivia asked EVERYDAY when Maggie would be home and WHY did she have to go ALL the way to the OCEAN without her! :)

Last night we watched the girls while Adam and Christie went on a date (to an Ethiopian restaruant, you can read about it here) . It was so cute to see all of the kids back together again. (these are older pics, long story, new laptop having problems. ugh)

Like Mother, Like Son?

Ok, for the record I was NOT a morning person before children. But since having kids I CHERISH my quiet time in the morning. When I remember to set the coffee maker for a certain time, I am more likely to get up at the most ideal time, 30 minutes before the kids. It used to be 6:30, then it was 6:00 and now it is 5:45. I am noticing a pattern here that is producing a pretty sleepy mommy at about 6pm.

-

-

Now that Logan is free to get out of bed when he chooses, I believe he lies awake just waiting to smell the coffee, jump out of bed and meet mommy before she can even have her first cup!

Well this am, was no different. I chose to hit snooze for a little longer and didn't roll out of bed until 6:05. As I gently closed Logan's door, got the cup out of the cupboard, I hear him moving around. I said a quick "Please God, let him sleep just 15 minutes more" to which I believe God said "Remember when the alarm went off at 5:45? that was your 15 minutes!" :)

-

-

So in order to keep Logan from waking Tommy and Olivia, here is a list of our activities from 6:10-7:30.

• Snuggling for about 10 minutes
• Eating oatmeal
• Playing trucks in his room
• Loading the washer, letting him pour the fabric softener and then play in the water in the washer
• Playing animals
• Watching Leap Frog's Math Circus
• Listening to him shout the numbers along with the movie
• Putting the clothes into the dryer one by one while he told me about each item

And now he is taking a shower with dad.

-

-

Whew. I am exhausted! but what a great start to the day with my little guy!

Catching up - Date with daddy and my Logan!

Tommy recently took Olivia on a date downtown. I LOVE it when they get to spend time just the two of them together! They tried the IMAX movie "Under the Sea" but it was a little frightening for Olivia. They walked along the canal and then dinner at the Ram. What wonderful memories they are making together! (the pictures are little, from Tommy's palm)

Tommy often keeps Logan while Olivia and I work at church. These are some of the pictures he has sent me over the past couple weeks while we are gone. I LOVE to see them pop up on my phone!

Mommy Guilt

I believe there is an emotion that sounds pretty harmless, but when in full-force can be very debilitating. It is called mommy guilt. Today I have received (from myself I guess) a very large dose of this emotion.

Today, for no apparent reason, I am blue. Perhaps it is the torrential downpouring rain, perhaps it is the headache of getting our fence fixed or maybe it is that the planets are aligned in such a way that the full force of the universe is fixed right on our house (and it caused our laundry to breed on its own).

Whatever the reason, it is not reason enough to be as frustrated at my kids as I was today. I feel guilty for raising my voice too often today. I feel guilty that I haven't played with them much today. I feel even MORE guilty that I haven't WANTED to play today. I feel guilty for saying no to the request "Mommy, will you play with me?" I feel guilty that I don't do all of the housework when they go to bed, so I can play all day. I feel guilty for the big hugs and "I love you's" I receive when I quite frankly don't deserve them .

I read a quote today "Our future belongs to those who live intensely in the present."

This wasn't directly from the Bible, it wasn't from an inspirational website or article. It was simply from my Vitamin E bottle. The reason I say this is pretty ironic. I realized, in the middle of my crabbiness, that I had forgotten to take my vitamins. When I picked up the Vitamin E bottle it was as if God was audible in my ear as I read, for the first time, the quote on the bottle that is almost gone.

This made me stop and think. Wow, God took the time to have someone write that quote on the bottle, then I purchased that particular brand and saw the quote on a day when I really needed it. And since I don't believe in coincidences, I know God was gently reminding me to enjoy the moment. And that He truly cares about every little part of our days.

This doesn't make the struggles of the day go away, but it reminds me that God instructs us to GIVE to him, our struggles, our bad days and our mommy guilt.

So I am off, off to play airplanes with Logan, while simultaneously playing jewelry with Olivia because it would take the entire galaxy aligning for the kids to want to play the same thing today. :)

The piggy bank bust

Olivia has been asking lately if we could take the money out of her piggy bank, do the money machine at Kroger (to turn the coins into dollars) and go to target to pick out a new toy. (side note: I found a couple $5's, yes I said $5's! in the piggy bank - Tommy, you are so busted. I have never given her $1's let alone $5's for her bank so I know it was you! :) After we turned in the coin money, we drove to Target and spent the better part of an hour enjoying (read agonizing over) the toy isle. This is a pony stable, turned dog house. Olivia has practically taken it everywhere. It is fun to show her that it really IS fun to save for a fun toy!

Logan picked out this "big jet".

I really LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to buy things for my kiddos, and while I don't want them to ever "expect" a treat at every shopping trip, I do love to treat them every once in awhile.

Just to remember - June 9,2009

Logan,

I am so proud of you! We have experienced lots of milestones in the last couple months. You are now fully potty trained! I am Praising God for this because mommy spent many mornings praying for a smooth transition. Not only are there no more pull-ups during the day, but last night you were EXTREMELY insulted when I tried to put one on you at bedtime, so I guess that means you are done at night too. Thankfully you woke up twice to ask for help to the bathroom. Good job. You are also now in your toddler bed! (Crib with the side taken off). No tent, no side-rail. One day I will explain just how much anxiety this caused your mommy. You are doing great! Staying in your bed at bedtime and for the most part staying put until morning. HOWEVER, I would like to point out that just because you are in a big bed now, our new wake-up time is NOT 6AM! Wonder what I am covering with God in my morning prayer time? I am praying that you will always be healthy and happy, I am praying for your school days, I am praying you choose the right friends and I am even praying for your future spouse. But I have to be honest and say, the most pressing prayer request at the moment is... PLEASE LET HIM SLEEP PAST 6:30!!!!

Love you bub,

Mom

Air show

We took the kids to the Air Show at Mt Comfort airport this past weekend. It was so fun and the kids LOVED it! Especially Logan. Lots of planes doing tricks in the air, lots of big jets and planes to walk around and see and touch, and lots of activities for everyone.



Logan had a plane in each hand and couldn't get enough of the "big jets"We will definetly be searching for more air shows to attend this year. Great fun for our family!

What a week

I haven't posted in a while because our computer crashed and we had to replace it. BUT in the mean time, lots has happened!

First we were bugged about this.....

The lawn service must have damaged our fence. So we were in the process of taking care of this when....

This happened!

A car ran into our fence! and came within an INCH of one of the swings! It was so scary to say the least. We were not outside which is the biggest blessing of all. We haven't heard about the lady who was in the accident, the police thought it was a diabetic seizure. Lots of blessings can be found though (like, hitting our fence was much better for her than hitting our tree). We are praising God that no one was seriously hurt and the kids were inside and didn't witness the accident. We are in the process of getting the fence repaired and then it will be business as usual in the backyard!