I am

Thank you Lisa for being such an awesome friend. I don't know what I would do without you.

Easter Set 3

all the eggs my kids collected

Look what we found!

Easter Set 2

Easter Set 1

These might be a little out of order, but I'm just thankful to get them posted. Blogger is being a pain.

Connor's Birthday Party

All the kids were fascinated with one card.

Aunt S forgot how to spell his name. lol See the ? where the o should be?

Singing Happy Birthday

Make a wish!

Kids Speak...

Its about that time. :) Enjoy!

Connor: "I'm going to be a chef when I grow up. I'm going to open up my own restraunt and call it The Mexican Outback."
Sadie: "That sounds good"
Connor: "Yep, I'll feed my people Chinese food"

************************************************************************************
Connor: "Mommy I got a card from Pastor Jim! I don't think I've met him."
Sadie: "Oh, he's just the guy that stands up and talks in big church"

************************************************************************************

Grace: "I'm going to marry R when I grow up."
Aaron: "Does he have a say in this?"
Grace: "Nope, but when he gets older I'll tell him."
***********************************************************************************

3 a.m.

Grace: "mommy! mommy! wake up!"
Me: "what?"
Grace: "What do kangaroos drink?"
Me: "huh?!?"
Grace: " What do kangaroos drink?"
Me: "water"
Grace: "Ok, night night"

************************************************************************************

Me: "Hey, Grace, who are you going to marry?"
Grace: "N"
Me: "Wait! What happened to R?"
Grace: "He said no, but he said he'll be my boyfriend"

************************************************************************************

Aaron: "Grace were you dreaming about Australia last night?"
Grace: "huh?"
Aaron: "Why did you need to know what kangaroos drink?"
Grace: "Cuz I didn't know"
Aaron: "Why was it important in the middle of the night?"
Grace: "Cuz I didn't know"

************************************************************************************

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Kids Speak. They crack me up! I know I chuckled even while putting these together for you.

Happy easter!

I want it

http://www.thebecker.com/pickpic3/gallery/photo.php?id=55058

Good Morning

Happy Friday!

We've had a pretty good end of the week. The NWS did confirm a tornado touched down Tuesday night. EF1, so a small one- but a tornado nonetheless.
I'm going to be spending my day spring cleaning. Pulling stuff out for our garage sale in a couple of weeks. It sounds like its going to be a big one! Its the weekend before the consignment sale in Tyler- so I'm hoping to make enough to go over there and get the kids some spring/summer clothes. They all need clothes in a bad way before our trip.

I posted a couple new pictures of Connor on my photography blog.
I have a ton of editing to do tonight- I'll be sitting here editing pictures, and doing schoolwork.
I want to get all these pics from last weekend and yesterday edited before tomorrow morning- when I have another photoshoot.

Happy Birthday Connor!!

Ok, the pics are out of order, lol but it won't let me re arrange them- so you get the drift. :) The first two should be the last two. lol

Storms

Last night got pretty hairy! We had some storms rolling through, I had kltv.com open listening to the webcast. I was in the middle of schoolwork when it got very loud- branches, and stuff was hitting the window right by me, it was also hammering the back of the house.
I grabbed the kids and put them in the hall away from windows- we have some dying (or already dead) trees on the bedroom side of the house, that just scare me on windy days. Anyway, about the time that I got the older kids settled in the hall, I heard the meteorologist say the "T" word- and then the phone rang. It was a recorded Mark Scirto with a thundercall- Tornado warning. So I moved the kids into the tub, grabbed Matthew out of his bed and put him in there too. I remember making the comment to Aaron that the sirens hadn't gone off. I watched the radar as the storm moved off- and then let the kids out of the tub. Thankfully Matthew went right back to sleep- the older three on the other hand were so wound up again- I let them watch a movie on the floor in my room to calm down.

We did sustain some minor damage to the house- I haven't gone outside and walked around yet- so I don't know how much- but some of it is pretty obvious just from looking out the window.

Happy St Patty's Day!

Blogger was a booger today. Blame it for your late St Pats wishes. :)

Today was also Matthew's last "first" holiday. :*( Made me kinda sad. lol
In ten days he'll be ONE!!!

I'm such a dork...

A couple of weeks ago I checked my business mail and found an email from Marisa Holmes
Being an avid blog stalker I was surprised! lol I had left a comment on her blog and she was just writing me thanking me. I saved the email by the way- yes, because I am a dork.

I made the comment to Aaron that this what normal people must feel when they get an autograph from a celebrity or something. lol

Anyway, fast forward to today, in my business communication class we've been discussing blogs. I know I love my blogs, but I was curious on a larger scale how effective a blog really is, so I emailed a photographer who's blog I stalk. I figured it would be a couple of days before I heard back - if I heard anything at all. In less than an hour I had an email in my inbox from [b]ecker!

I was very excited. LOL I'm feeling all twitterpated again.

So now you know, I am a great big huge dork. lol

Speaking of Birthdays

Here is some of the stuff I have for Matthew's party. The party supplies are from Birthday Express.
I had his diaper cover and shirt custom painted by Tammy at Paint Me a Rainbow.
She was so sweet and threw in the painted bib as a little treat. :) Didn't she do a great job???

In 8 short days...

This little guy will be 6. I have such a hard time with 6. I'm not sure why. I cried when Sadie turned 6. Maybe its a good thing- my being sad about Connor turning 6 is overshadowing the sad I feel about Matthew turning 1.

Germs germs everywhere!

Oh what a weekend. Saturday found Sadie doubled over in pain again- so she ended up in the ER. Xrays came back and the poor things colon is packed full of stool. :( No wonder she is in so much pain. So we're working on taking care of that.

Matthew finished his antibiotics for his ear infections on Thursday. Saturday night he was up crying, pulling at his ears, and not wanting to sleep. Aaron ran up to the store and bought some earache drops, and they seemed to help- so I'm guessing his ear infections are back. I'm looking forward to Friday- we're keeping the van and are going to be able to go to the chiro.

Yesterday after church, I lay down for a nap- when I woke up, Grace was asleep on the couch, which is unusual for her. I woke her up and she started crying, saying her head hurt. She felt warm, so I gave her some tylenol and let her lay back on the couch. She fell right back asleep.
She woke up around 4 and was playing just fine- so when I put them to bed around 8, I really expected her to give us some trouble, and not want to go to sleep. However, she went right to sleep, but woke up crying about 45 minutes later- her head hurt and she had spiked a fever to 102. 5. She did throw up a little bit, but that really didn't seem to be her main problem- she mostly complained about her head. I gave her some motrin and a cool rag for her head and had her lay on our floor.

I'm still coughing and wheezing although I feel fine. Knock on wood, Connor and Aaron seem perfectly healthy.

I'll be spending this week getting ready for Connor's birthday party. He's having a Transformers party. I wanna know what happened to my little boy! When did he get so big? :( I have a hard time with 6. It sounds so old all of a sudden. Of course, he's all excited about it.

I took him to the park for a little mini photo session yesterday because it was so pretty. I'll post those when I get them edited.

For now, it appears that Matthew has fallen back asleep finally- so I'm going to try and get some more shut eye before having to be up for the day.

Sadie's Snowman

Third Set

More Snow Pictures

Snow Day!

I took a ton of pics so stay tuned for more.

Its Thursday!

Happy Thursday morning! Hope your week is going well.
I had a very productive day yesterday. Hoping for more of the same today.

I made these for dessert last night- and Oh. My. Word! They are delicious- and very very easy!

Today is the last day of my student workshop. Monday starts my first two classes.
Contemporary Business Communication and Skills for learning in an information age.
I have to say I am very very nervous. I downloaded my syllabuses (syllabi?) , spoke with my academic counselor and everything. Its feeling very real right now. Part of me is wondering what I got myself into. LOL

Just a note- pray for Sadie. The dr won't refil her stomach meds without seeing her, and we can't afford to take her in until the end of next week. She's in so much pain. Last night she just lay and cry because her stomach and chest was hurting. Normally it wouldn't be such a big deal to take her, but with me being sick, that dr visit and meds (which even with insurance cost an arm and a leg) all of our money is going into the gas tank.

Which brings me to another prayer request- there is a possibility Aaron could carpool with someone at work. That would be such a HUGE blessing. Please pray that it will work out.

Family Pictures

Recently we met a friend at the daffodil gardens and she took our family pictures. She has a couple posted as a sneak peak. :) Go take a look here.

I feel good!

And its about time! I started antibiotics on Saturday- and today is the first day that I can say "I feel good" Now of course its time to pick up the pieces. My house is a wreck! I'm starting on the kitchen as it is the worst.

I got a very sweet package today. One of the mamas from the ads board I post on sent me a package from www.puddinbabies.com
Pink Sugar bubble bath, three facial masks, and the owner of the site, Pamela, threw in a white tea and ginger sugar scrub. YUM! It was such a nice suprise!

Matthew's birthday party supplies will be here tomorrow, and hopefully his shirt and diaper cover as well. I can't believe my baby is almost 1!!!

Anyway, my messy kitchen awaits- I'll never be so glad to be able to stand and wash dishes. lol

My Theme Song

You know you are sick when....

* You get excited when you see you have mail in your spam folder because you know you are in for a good laugh

*Random show tunes pop into your head for no apparent reason

*You are talking on the phone and sound like a complete idiot because you cannot remember your husbands drivers license number which you have had memorized for 8 years

*Chatting online with friends, your fingers take on a mind of their own and type any random thought and a chain of misspelled words such as hte, agan, and wht and it all makes perfect sense to you.

*You want to cry at the oreo commercial with the little boy and the daddy eating an oreo together over the webcam, but you know that if you do cry, you won't be able to stop and then your head will hurt worse.

*"Mommy- why do you stop and cross your legs when you cough?"

nuff said

Watch Your Phone Bill!!!

I got online this morning to pay our phone bill and saw that it was higher than normal, so I looked at the detailed billing. There was a charge on there for $14.95 from My iProducts iMail,LLC
The details said voicemail.

We don't have voicemail on this line- never have. Never ordered it. So I called the number listed, and the lady was very rude to me. Said that Aaron did in fact order it blah blah blah. I got no where with her. I told her we weren't paying the charges.

I called our phone company and the lady was helpful. They couldn't remove the charge because it isn't from them- but she did deduct that from our bill and assured me that not paying that $14.95 would not effect our service with them. She encouraged me to call the other company back, which I did- and I got the same result.

I have filed with the BBB, the FCC and am now blogging about it. Watch your phone bills closely! These people are scammers. I'm curious if any of you have dealt with this- and if so, how was it handled?

This is what I found when I googled the company:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/311/RipOff0311040.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/304/RipOff0304270.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/274/RipOff0274028.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/271/RipOff0271708.htm

The list seriously goes on and on and on.

Watch your bills people!

I'm a College Student!

Thats right! I start classes online March 10th! I'll start by getting my associates in Business and go on to get my Bachelor in Marketing.

I am very excited, yet very nervous! Its something I have been wanting to do for a very long time- and life has just gotten in the way. I actually got accepted into the local community college last year, and ended up pregnant, so school was put on the back burner once again.

So...wish me luck!

Germs germs everywhere!

Monday night Matthew was up all night long. Literally. He didn't sleep at all. He finally fell asleep around 6:30am Tuesday, and slept until 10. Woke up with a 103.7 fever and acting like he felt pretty cruddy.

I woke up feeling pretty bad myself, heavy in my chest and kinda like I had a sore throat, but it was more scratchy. I assumed it was due to a lack of sleep. We get Matthew to the dr, and he has double ear infections. As the afternoon progressed I felt worse and worse, and as Aaron and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie, I finally admitted I was getting sick. blah.

I woke up yesterday morning with a high fever, it continued all day long. I felt miserable! I couldn't function, when I would stand I felt dizzy. I spent most of the day on the couch drifting in and out of sleep. The kids hung out with me and watched movies and played x-box. They really were pretty good, all things considered. My fever broke last night, so I don't feel as bad thankfully. Its amazing how bad a fever makes you feel. Now I'm just left with this hacking cough, stuffy nose and plugged up ears. Hopefully it will all pass very soon, and no one else will get it.

Grace woke up with the same headache that she went to bed with however, so I really hope she's not getting it. :(

I was supposed to have my Pampered Chef party tonight- and had to cancel yet again due to sickness. I've decided to just do a catalog show- it obviously isn't working for me to host a home show.

Hope your Thursday is a great one!

Happy Sunday!

Good Sunday morning! We're missing E&E this morning- none of us slept well. We're going to try and make it to second service though.

I posted a few new pictures on my photography blog.

Connor is doing better. Yesterday was his "bottom out" day. Today probably will be the same, but to a lesser degree.

Wow- when I sat down to blog I had so much in my head. Now its all flown out.

Have a Happy Sunday!

You can't make this stuff up!

So today I'm going about my day, made a couple phone calls, filled out some stuff online- normal routine. I start supper and realize I'm out of cheese, so I pick up the phone to call my grandma to see if she has any I can use. No dial tone. Odd- then I realize no dsl. Interesting.

I quickly think back- no, we paid our bill. I haven't even recieved the new one yet. Thankfully we had just purchased a pay as you go cell phone and I had that with me, so I call At&T
I reach an automated system.I tell the nice computer man voice that I need technical support. He transfers me to...another automated system. I tell that nice computer man voice what is wrong with my phone line, he runs a test, and tells me that my phone will be repaired today between the hours of "now and seven O clock pm" (I didn't know that "now" was an hour, but thats beside the point) I hang up, and decide to take advantage of the quiet (HA!) by cleaning house. About an hour or so later I picked up the phone and hear a dial tone. Goody! Drat, no dsl.
So I call At&T again.
The computer man voice says "I see you are calling from area code nine zero three dash five five three" Wait! what? Thats not my number! So I wait, and wait. I get put on the phone with "bob" from India. Quick side note I wonder how many "bob" s work at that place?
I couldn't understand a word that "bob" said. He finally said there was no dsl signal, and he was going to tansfer me. First he wanted to give me a ticket number. He rambles off a string of letters and comes to "wee" Wee? Wee?
"three" I ask?
"no, wee" said "bob"
"there's not a letter 'wee'"
"wee as in wictor"
"V!?!"
"ok"
aye aye aye

It should have come as no surprise when he tried to transfer me we got disconnected.
I call back.
"thank you for calling AT&t"
"I want a person"
"I'm sorry, I don't understand, are you having trouble with your telephone line?"
"Yes"
"please describe that problem" retorts the highly irritating computer man voice
"I want a person"
"If I understand correctly you want to speak with an agent- is this correct?"
"YES" gritting my teeth now
"In order to serve you better, I need to know what sort of agent you need to speak with. Are you having trouble with your telephone line?"
"YES !!!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. Are you having trouble with your telephone line?"

At this point I'm ready to throw my telephone and the evil computer man voice through the window. I start punching zeros "I. Just. Want. A. Real. Person."

"thank you for calling AT&t this is Sue* how may I help you?" {*name has been changed to protect the very nice real person who ended up with a nearly irate me}

"Sue- I'm telling you now, I am not in a good mood- I am very frustrated, so please forgive me if I sound snippy"

I proceeded to explain to Sue what was going on- and that yes I had a dial tone, but the number wasn't my number, and I was having to take someone else's phone calls. She assured me a tech was on his way.

Two hours later, my number is back, my dsl is back- and I'm sure my hair will regrow. ;-)

Oh My Word...

When the kids get in trouble for lying or sassing, they get a small bit of vinager in their mouths.
Well this morning, Connor got into quite a bit of trouble with his mouth, and got vinager severa times.
This evening, Grace got into trouble and Aaron went to get the vinager, and found an empty bottle.
Connor had gotten the clever idea that if he poured out the entire bottle. He got in a lot more trouble, and was reassured that vinager is cheap, and the bottle will be replaced tomorrow.

Kids....what would we do without them?

News!

I just shared some exciting news over on my photo blog. Yep, I'm going to make you go there to read it. :P
Things are really hopping around here. Aaron and I were talking last night about how we don't have a free weekend until April- then we have three weeks to get ready for vacation. *whew* Its that time of year again. :)

Everyone is happy and healthy right now :::knock on wood:::: I have several projects in the works, and just staying super busy. :)

If you would, pray with us for one thing. We really need a second car. The price of gas what it is, it costs so much for Aaron to drive back and forth to work, and there isn't anyone in Longview to carpool with. Plus, on days when I have to keep the van, it doubles our gas for the day, and it makes for a long exhausting day for the kids. We are praying about the situation, and are looking into possibly using the extra tax rebate to buy a car for him. Would you pray that we make the right choice? Thanks!

Monday Monday...

No mail today. I'm still waiting on a few packages, that I'm starting to get worried about.
Hopefully they will show up tomorrow.

Today I am cleaning the house top to bottom- getting started on that spring cleaning. I'm in one of my declutter modes- everything that isn't useful goes out the door. Its nice that I usually make a little money selling things when I'm in these moods- not so nice when I get to over zealous and sell something that I need down the road.

We had a super busy long weekend- Thursday was spent in the ER, Friday we went out on a date night, Saturday was Sadie's game (which I stayed home from because of Connor), I had a Stampin Up party as well, and we hosted small group. Yesterday was filled with the hustle and bustle of church. This weekend will be probably about the same. Sadie has practice on Friday night- where I have also been asked to do team pictures. (yeah!) Saturday is her last game, and then we are doing family pictures afterwards, and I have a shoot as well. Sunday will be probably a cookie cutter repeat of yesterday. :)

I enjoy being busy, but sometimes its nice to have a weekend in site when we dont have any plans at all. Unfortunatly, we don't have one of those weekends in site for a month or more.
My photography business is picking up which is awesome. I feel so blessed! Its bringing in a little extra money to stash away for our San Antonio trip. We're also going to try to take another trip to Rotan sometime in the late summer. I can't wait. I need my Ld fix. There are certain times when I just miss her so bad. :( Its been hard going from living next door, to across the state. Kinda stinks :( But I wouldn't trade her friendship for the world.

I need to go motivate children to clean their rooms. Apparently when I say "Please clean up your room so I can vacuum" they hear "Go ahead and sit on your beds and stare at each other- I really want to have a stress headache by the end of the day"

:P

Kids...gotta love em.

Connor

Today I was cleaning and put the chairs on top of the table so I could vacuum. Connor decided to climb ontop of the table and chairs, and ended up falling. We estimate he fell about 5 feet. He hit his head, and cried, but seemed to be ok for a while.
We sat down during Matthew's nap time to watch a movie- and Connor fell asleep- which is unusual for him.
He woke up screaming that his head hurt, and ended up throwing up. So I put a call into the dr to tell them what was going on, and we were instructed to take him straight to the ER.

Several hours, and a CT scan later- he's fine. Has a minor concussion, and we just have to keep an eye on him. Scary for sure though.

Win free to-do software

Lori at blogging cents Is giving away four licenses for the FruitfulTime Task Manager.
You can download a free trial- and head on over to her blog to enter to win. Fingers crossed that I win one! :)

But Mom he fits!

Doesn't he look thrilled? Ah the joys of having a big sister.

My House Smells Good

Just thought I'd share that. :)

I have a Pink Sugar tart from www.mommasoytartmart.com going in the kitchen.
A Clean Cotton tart from www.thetartshack.com going in the bathroom

and I just vacuumed with Cozy Home carpet powder from www.catladycandles.com

It smells divine in here! :)

Making Cards...

Thank you card for clients.

Aaron's valentine- this is actually a little book- there are several pages on the inside. I can't show them to you though. :) At least not until after Friday.

Fun little all purpose card. :)

Please continue to pray

Poor little Ashley is not doing well. :( Please continue to lift this precious family to the throne.

Fun Sunday...

This weekend was the missions conference at church. We didn't get to participate in near as many of the activities as we would have liked- but we had a lot of conflicting events.

Anyway, yesterday many of the missionaries were still there, and I got to visit with my former 3d grade teacher, who was wonderful, our former senior pastor and his wife, and the parents of some kids I grew up with in the church.



After church we went and picked up Riley, and then headed to lunch with some friends of ours.

7 kids at Papacitas was....actually not that bad. :) The kids really were all well behaved, and we had no major meltdowns or anything. Grace did manage to spill an entire bowl of salsa on her brand new dress, but thats life.



After lunch we brought Riley back to the house and played some Rock Band. That game is so fun to play with a bunch of people. :) Then it was Awana and home.

I worked some more on editing pictures, and Aaron watched a couple movies.



All in all, it was a good day. However, there was something during lunch, that I just need to get out.

A little background , which most of you know already. Aaron and I were members of a church for a long time. We got close to two couples in particular, one of them had kids the same age as Sadie and Connor. The church went through a hard time that effected this couple in particular, and we stood by their side- listening, defending etc. During the rough patch, Aaron and I taught in Connor's Sunday school class every Sunday for months. When I started to get so sick with my pregnancy, our attendance waned (we had already stopped teaching Sunday school) but I was on bed-rest and in and out of the hospital. I tried to keep in contact with these two couples letting them know what was going on, so they could let the church know, and ask them to pray for us.

Two of my friends (outside the church) threw me a baby shower- the two ladies were invited- one of the called the hostess and said they couldn't make it, but they had a gift and would get it to me. Never did. I honestly could care less about the gift. But they called the hostess, not me. From that point forward when I tried to call them, I'd leave messages, and my calls were never returned. Emails were never returned. Matthew was born, I called to let them know, and nothing. Needless to say, even though I was healthy again, and ready to start attending church, we didn't go back to what was once our home church. It really made me very sad, but how could I go back? We ended up at FBC,and are very happy, and the kids love it.

From time to time they have asked about the kids from the one family. I haven't really known what to say.

Anyway, all that to say- as we are walking to our table yesterday I hear "Mom LOOK!" There they were. Both couples. It was hard. Really hard. But again, I felt like the red-headed step child.
I pray that over time the kids will forge new relationships that are stronger- I'm not going to lie- I was/am hurt by what happened- but when I see the kids struggle- it makes me angry.

I know that I didn't do anything wrong. Believe me I've gone over everything time and time and time again- I did nothing wrong. I don't know why they chose to do what they did- but regardless, they did. I can't change it, I can't control it. I've struggled with it- not with letting go of those relationships- since I've long since let go- but with forming new ones- its put a damper on how close I allow myself to get to someone- and thats not fair. So its something I'm working on.

I believe that things happen for a reason- and without going through all that we never would have come back to FBC- and we're so at home there. Its certainly where we need to be.
God is constantly pruning our lives, and I guess sometimes there has to be a little bit of pain to go along with it.

There really was no rhyme or reason to all that- but I feel better for getting it out.
Live and learn, and life goes on.

Prayers

I've talked about this family before on my blog. I'm sad to report that while things were looking so good for little Ashley there for a while- things have taken a turn for the worse. The past few days have seen that family in a whirlwind from home to a local hospital, to Shreveport and now they are back in Omaha.
Here is Dave's latest update:


Radpidly Declining......
....and we have no idea why." She is getting sicker and sicker. She has had just about every test they can think of and all are negative thus far. For now she can't breathe on her own, her blood pressure is dropping and her kidneys are shutting down. Every type of antibiotic, antifungal and antiviral she has ever had and then quite a few new ones we have never heard of have been started. They are doing an echocardiogram and have discussed dialysis.Please be in prayer for (and ask everyone you know) the littlest pickle, that she will continue to fight and fight and fight like we know she can. We will update if we learn anything new.We want her back and we want her doing the "itsy bitsy spider" just like she was a couple of days ago.


Please remember Ashley in your prayers!

New Pics

There are new pictures of the kids up at my photo blog. www.mandyhowephotography.blogspot.com

I am aware there are no pictures of Grace over there. Thats because everytime I would try to take her picture- she would stick her tongue out. The stinker.

Arrrrrrggh!

This is the face of a little boy who has been throwing up since Thursday. Still throwing up today.
Pray for him. :( He feels lousy. He was actually yelling at me at this picture..lol...I just think he looks like a little pirate. :)

Update

I realize I haven't updated in a while. We've been dealing with illnesses etc of various kinds.
My foot had a run in with a rug doctor and lost. Its not broken, but I banged it up pretty good.
I had to wear a boot thing for a few days. I've finally given up on it.

Matthew is very sick. He came down with a stomach bug on Thursday and still has it. He had to go to the ER yesterday for IV fluids. He's still throwing up today though. :(

I'm still not 100% over the bug myself, but its not hanging on to anyone else like it is Matty.

Tomorrow is a day of dr appts, Grace has a dermotologist appt in the morning, and Aaron and I have check ups with our dr in the afternoon.

My camera should be here sometime tomorrow night. I'm very excited about that. :)

Hopefully I will have a better update soon.