I want to get married right now...

This is the conversation that Aidan wanted to have with me right before his nap. I don't know that it wasn't really more of a ploy to stay awake than something that he really wanted to talk about.

A:"I want to get married right now!"

Me:"You do...who do you want to marry?"

A: "Ummm, one of my friends, maybe Gracie or Leigh Ann or someone else?"

(Gracie is 5 and Leigh Ann is almost 6)

Me: "You mean like, maybe, Karsen?"

A: "No, Karsen is too young, she is only 2! She cant' get married yet!"

Me: While fighting back giggles..."Oh, well, why do you want to be married right now?"

A: "Well, if I get married I can ride to work with Daddy, and we can work at the same place."

Me: "Ah, you want to work where Daddy works, I thought you wanted to drive a race car?"

A: "Well, I do want to do that too, but I also want to be a real live super hero....and work with Daddy."

Me: "What else do you think you might want to do when you get married?"

A: "Well, I could watch my kids....well, no I can't have kids cause if I marry one of my friends, they are only 5 and they aren't big enough to grow babies."

Me: "Ahh....take your nap now, ok?"

Look at me!

Here are some pictures from the retreat. I tried to upload them the other day and they just wouldn't go, so here they are.
Acting silly....

We're off to see the Wizard

Today we had fun! The library had storytime and we could dress up for Halloween too. Alora was Dorothy, Aidan the Scarecrow, and Aralyn the Lion. I was the Wicked Witch, and for Adam, we are going to try to make a Tin Man costume before next Monday. I thought the kids were too cute!

A day at the lake

Well, I am not so sure that you would still call a drained lake, a lake. The retreat is held at Palmetto Bible Camp in the mountains of upstate South Carolina. There is a man-made lake there that they had drained this year, for whatever reasons that you drain a man-made lake.

We went to the family retreat even though Alora had been a little bit sick. Some of the other children heading up there had been a bit sick too, so we just all decided to make the best of it. It was warmer than it usually is, so there was much more time to spend outdoors with the children and in the sun than we usually have. Usually with small children it is just too cold to stay outside all the time that you are up there, but this year it was unseasonably warm, so it was great to spend some time in the great outdoors.

Aralyn loves to be held and talked to, and that is what she got all weekend. She was very good, just happy the whole time. She really is the most laid back child. She had gotten a little stuffy on Saturday night. There was a bonfire, and after we roasted some marshmellows and ate a few smores we put the kids in the bed. Sharing the cabin with just one other family made it easy to put the kids in bed and then head back out to sit on a deck of another cabin or by the fire. Saturday night I went back to check on Aralyn, who was a bit stuffy and Alora who had been coughing a good bit. Aralyn was struggling for breathe and gagging and threw up just as I got there. I felt really bad for having left her. Other than that incident, she did really well there.

Alora loved walking through the leaves and making them crunch. She had the best time playing in the sand, which was really just the volley ball court. Someone had thought to bring some sand toys and so the little kids had a great time building castles and getting dirty! She loved looking for different colored leaves, pine cones and sticks. She even loved looking at some poor captured salamanders that the older kids had found and placed in cups and bowls.

Aidan and his best little friend had tons of fun running around camp and finding sticks and things. They also went on a hike with their dads and had some great bonding time together. This was the first year that he was really able to just tell us where he was headed and run off to play. He had a great time and loved every minute.

Adam did the Saturday morning class. I was so proud of him and he did a great job, even though he was terribly nervous about doing a class type setting instead of just a sermon. He got some good guy time in with some of his friends and had fun spending some quality time with the family too.

I got some great pictures at a waterfall/holding pond that runs down to the lake and all around camp. I always enjoy being up there...Adam and I met there and got married there, lots of other great memories from my youth are related to this camp; I even got baptized there! It is a special place to me. The retreat is like going home. This year especially since we have been attending the small congregation that Adam preaches at for over a year now. It seems like it was time to get to know all our firends from the previous congregation again. We truly love them all and love the time we get to spend with them. The only bad thing is that the time passes much too quickly.

There was even a baptism...praise God! It was just a great time with our friends and family and we are so glad that we got to go!

editted by me on Oct. 27th, I had to fix some things and add the pictures. enjoy!

We're Moving...or at least that is what it looks like

Everything but the kitchen sink…wait a minute, that might come in handy too!

We are headed off to the family retreat with our church family.  It is always lots of fun, but so much to pack.  It is held at a camp (the cabin and mess hall type) and so you have to pack things you wouldn’t have to pack for other kinds of trips…towels, sheets and sleeping bags, pillows, that sort of thing.  Plus, we have an infant with us this year, so there are the diapers, extra outfits, burp cloths, all that baby gear.  

To take the portable swing or not?  That is the question.  Well, that is one of the questions…swing or exersaucer or neither?  Fever reducer…check.  Cough meds…check.  But, vitamins?  Or what about the thermometer?  Alora has been sick and I want to be prepared, but not go overboard.  

We also need to pack some board games, some snacks, a sippy cup or two, a few toys for the kids to play with, maybe a book or two to read before bed, a bible or 2 and a turkey baster.  Turkey baster was just to see if you were really paying attention; I really don’t think that we will need one this year.  

It was suggested that we pack the children’s Halloween costumes for a little carnival type thing that is planned for Saturday night, but I don’t know if the van will hold it all!  Plus, I haven’t really finished making Aidan’s costume.  Alora is going to be Dorothy, Aralyn is going to be a lion and Aidan is going to be a scarecrow….you know, Wizard of Oz.  I am sort of throwing Aidan’s outfit together with some things that I have around the house and a few things that I picked up in the craft section, but I haven’t worked on it cause I didn’t really think that I needed it until Halloween.  It will be good to have it ready though because I found out that the library’s storytime on Tuesday they are supposed to wear their costumes too…and I probably won’t have lots of time to work on it when we get back since there will be the van to unpack and tons of things to put away.  

I am excited…it is just a lot to make sure to get done before tomorrow.  

Sick

Sickness seems to be going around.  Several of the players on Aidan’s soccer team have been sick in the past few weeks and just this Tuesday one of the little boys wasn’t feeling well and even asked to be taken out of the game.  I feel like we are trying to dodge the sickies and keep away from it and it isn’t working very well.  

Alora just yesterday started sounding a bit croaky in her speech.  Not really noticeable, but on certain words you can hear it better than others.  Today she sounds just a bit worse and is running a low grade fever.  We were planning to head out of town this weekend for a retreat with our old church family, but if the fever isn’t gone, then we won’t be going.  It would be just too hard to go with a sick kid, and I don’t want the other children there to get sick either.  

It would really make me a bit sad to miss , we haven’t missed a year of this annual trip in 6 years…the time that we were members at that congregation.  Plus, we were planning to head up to my parents’ house to visit with some family too.  My grandparents were going to come over to see Aralyn again, who they haven’t seen in about 2 months.  My great aunt, Jimmie and my cousin Gayle and her daughter, Rebecca, were also going to be coming over…they haven’t seen Aralyn at all.  And, my sister is home from college for her fall break and I would love to see her too!  It would be a lot to miss out on.

As, an aside to all this:  Aralyn rolled over today for the first time.  I knew that she could, she just never has.  I think she is always highly unimpressed with being on her tummy, so she doesn’t like to roll onto her tummy much.  I am sure when she can go somewhere her tummy will be more fun than it is now.  

No more food for you, missy!

Well, so much for the short time that Aralyn was on food. About 2 weeks ago I decided that she seemed ready for some food. We were at Burger King at the time of my decision and she was grabbing at our food and our hands and just watching our faces like some starved child that we were keeping away from food as some sort of torture. Seeing as how she was just 4 months, and I had never started one of my babies on food until 6 months or later, I thought it was a bit early. The deciding factor was when I opened up a cool fry and let her have the mashed inside. Altogether not really enough for an ant to live off of, but her little face lit up in a smile and she just swallowed like an eating pro!

So, I went to the store and got some rice cereal and a few of the stage 1 jars of food to start with. Rice was not liked...not liked so much that we threw it and 2 days worth of milk up all over our mommy and the carpet! So a few days later, I think, maybe it was just too thick and she didn't like the taste, cause she sure liked those fries!

So, next we try some sweet potatoes, and we throw up again, but this time it was mostly just a gag thing...maybe too much on the spoon/still getting used to the eating thing? Next is bananas. And she loved them! They were great and she almost finished the little bowl that I made for her. One day, a Sunday, we even had some banana pudding at a little place we were having lunch. She loved this even better, not that I can blame her, their banana pudding is really good!

So, now she has changed. How? Well, now she is pooping more (I know she will be thrilled with me years down the road for writing this!). And she is crying a lot more. I think it is somewhat that she is teething, whic accounts for the large amount of drool that soaks her clothing lately. But, mostly I think her little tummy is not quite ready to be processing the food. So, I figure we will wait a few weeks and try again. She loved to eat it, but her poor little tummy is not liking it much.

Psalms

You are Psalms.


Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thought this was interesting. I am not sure that if I were to do the quiz again in a few minutes that I would have the same results, but it is fun to do anyway.

Thanks Jacinda for the fun this morning!

Cool and Dry

Well, it wasn't a $10 part that was broken this time. It was the compresser. Every time I told that to some one who knows anything about air conditioners, I got either a look of pity or they kind of sucked in their breath. The service guy who told me what it was acted like he would cry when he told me what was wrong with it.

Instead of a cheap/easy fix it was either replace the compressor for about $1000, or get a whole new unit for about $1400. We opted for the new unit, since we could get a bit better unit and a 5 year warrenty instead of just a new part for the old unit with just a 1 year warrenty on just that part.

After a few days with no air conditioning and all the windows open in SC is a recipe for a damp house! Having it rain 2 of the 3 days without air wasn't a help either. Fans in all the windows and such high humidity was getting really old. It wasn't all that hot, which was nice, but just having the air conditioning working again was so nice. Things started to dry out immediately. The only thing now is that some tiny little bugs that fly are in our house. They are smaller than the holes in the screens on the windows, so I guess that is how they got in. They are driving me nuts, cause I don't really know how to get rid of them. But, I guess that since they don't bite or anything, it isn't that big of a deal.

My beautiful baby!

We recently had photos of Aralyn taken at a place over in Augusta, GA. They do a really nice job, and while I can’t really afford to get all the pictures that I would really like to have, I can get some. I just got the originals back and they are so sweet! I can’t decide which ones that I really want to get. Here are a few of them…maybe more than that, we’ll see how long it takes me to scan them.

She has a name!

Alora has this thing about dolls.  She has her favorites and will carry the same one around for about a week and then trade it for another.  She does this with her stuffed monkey and some little stuffed kitty cats (they are considered one item although there are about 7 of them) and a few other random toys.  For one cycle it was a rock.  

These past few months it has almost always been America.  America is a doll that went with a grocery buggy that we bought her for Christmas.  She is a cute little doll, but not a real “special” doll.  Not like her first baby doll that I bought her when she fell in love with a doll for the first time.  It was a Rosalina doll that she found at a boutique type store.  She saw it and played with it and then cried and cried when it was time to leave because she wanted to take the doll with her.  The doll was about as big as she was and was fairly pricey for a doll, but her birthday was coming up and I thought it would be sweet for her to have it.  So, she came home with us and wasn’t played with for about a year!

She didn’t like her any more.  I had my theories that the reason was that she was just too big for her to tote around very easily.  She just would play with her a few minutes occasionally and then trade her in for some other lighter weight smaller toy to take on trips and play with the rest of the day.  

So, America became the favorite instead.  I should have known.  She was smaller and easier to tote, so she has been coming with us for weeks.  She has to come every place that we go.  She goes grocery shopping, to the library, to church, and all of the places that we go.  She has to be kissed goodnight and tucked in and hugged just like Alora is at night.  She is our “other” baby.  She recently acquired the name America.  I don’t know how.  Aidan and Alora were playing and then next thing I know I am beign told that this doll has a name and it is America.  Although, Alora says it more like Ameriga, and I think really that is what she would prefer for us to call her too.  

However, a few days ago something amazing happened.  America had a companion.  The Rosalina doll joined us.  This didn’t make us happy as parents, since now instead of just making sure that America comes with us in the van, and into every place we go, now this other baby has to come too.  Sometimes we would try to reason with her and just have either America or this other baby come and the other stay in the car, but this only works some many times.  And the small mind of my daughter would only change several times before she would settle on the one she really wanted.  

Now, Alora has weaned herself of America and this other doll is now the only one that comes everywhere.  She is the new favorite, for a few weeks or months or so.  And she has a name.  Adam was tucking Alora and this doll into bed the other night and Alora wanted him to kiss them both.  He informed me when I entered the room that she had a name now.  I asked Alora what her name was and she said Big, Heavy Baby.  

So goodnight to you, Alora, America, and Big, Heavy Baby.  I love you.  

AGAIN!!!

What are the chances?!?!

Our air conditioner is broke again!  It wouldn’t matter if it weren’t so hot lately, but that probably won’t happen for a few weeks more.  When we got home from church today it was 80 degrees, after our nap it was up to 83.  We finally have it cooled down to about 80 again after opening the windows and setting some fans to blow.  This time it will blow and shut off, but isn’t cooling…so probably we just need some freeon, but until we can get someone here, it will be quite warm.  At least this didn’t happen when Aralyn was younger…it would have been really hard on her then.  A good fan running tonight should keep us cool enough to sleep well.  

Hopefully the air conditioning places won’t be closed for the holiday tomorrow, not that Columbus Day is really anyone’s holiday unless you work for the government or want to buy furniture or clothing at the great “Columbus Day Sale”.  By the way…What does Columbus have to do with clothing for sale or furniture?  I just don’t get it?

The first game

Yesterday was Aidan’s first game.  It was so cute!  We even had one little boy try to score going the wrong direction…it was just a little bit off from the goal.  He was soon straightened out and caught on pretty quick which direction to score in from then on.  Aidan’s main duty on the field seems to be to throw the ball in.  The little kids really don’t have lots of control over the ball.  At least not all of them, because there are a few out there that are wonderful at turning the ball around and stopping it and keeping it in bounds.  Aidan is really good at being right there when the coach needs someone to throw it in, has good aim and a pretty strong arm to get it where the coach tells him to throw it in, so that is his “job”.  He loves it, but really wants to be the kid that scores the goal.  Hopefully with all these games that we have he will have the opportunity to score at least once, as it would make him so happy.  

His Neena and Poppa got to be at his first game, and will probably attend several of them, but as Neena is still recovering from her DVT, they probably won’t make it to all of them.  

The scatterbrained mommy that I am, I forgot to grab the camera to take pictures with.  At the jamboree I was only able to get a few pictures since my hands we full with the 2 girls.  I thought since Adam would be at the game that it would be a good time to get some good pictures of the kids playing, but I left the fully charged camera with an empty 512 mb memory stick in it on the desk at home.  Thankfully it was the only thing that I forgot and will have plenty of opportunity to take pictures tomorrow.  

Can I pretend to be 12?

My poor mother-in-law has had the roughest few weeks ever. She broke her arm (previous post) and then because of the type of cast she had, she got blisters and a rash and a yeast infection on her arm and palm. It was painful for her and she had to have some medication to clear it up. She finally had that cleared up and had the cast taken off only to have her legs start to cause her some terrible pain. She has vericose veins, but these turned out not to be the cause of her pain.

She has clots in her veins. They put her on an antibiotic and a pain medication to help clear up some infection that they thought she had. Only, the antibiotic she was allergic to, and it made her really really really sick. She felt horrid and had all the side effects from the medication. They finally got it switched to another medication and she was starting to recover and then her legs flared up again. She ended up in the hospital and was finally able to really recover. She is doing much better after her 7 days in the hospital. She is home now and on some new medication to help keep the clots from forming, as these can be deadly if they go into the deeper veins or get big.

So, the first day she was in the hospital we all loaded up and headed over so that we could visit her. We stopped by the gift shop and got three flowers and a card to give to her. Up to the fourth floor and stopped by the nurse at the nurses' desk who tells me that children under 12 are not allowed in the rooms. Back down the elevator I head with the 3 kids and leave Adam to go and visit. We waited in the main waiting room. I am left to explain to Aidan why he can't go and see his Neena. He was so upset. After playing for a bit with Alora and looking at some magazines he heads over to my chair and says, "Can I pretend to be 12?" I felt so badly for him. Sure he could pretend to be 12, but there was no way the nurse at the station would think that my 5 year old was 12.

I find that I am like that sometimes. God, can we just pretend that this is your will, that I am doing what is right, that everything is fine and there are no hard changes that need to be made? Wouldn't that be easier and get me what I want...of course...but God wouldn't believe it cause it isn't TRUE. With God being Truth, it is not much use to try and fool Him.

God, please help us to not try and fool you. Help us to always be willing to look deep within us and do what needs to be done to make ourselves what you want us to be. Help us to look to you and love you with all that we are.

Thank you also for bringing Neena home from the hospital and helping her find relief from the pain. Thank you that she is doing so much better and that we can all go visit her any time we want to now.