So sweet.

Yesterday was a fun day. I took the kiddos to Steve's Fantastic Fun Zone with some friends from church and then to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. We got home and the kids' friend, Sam, stayed with us for the afternoon. I think they had a good time, I know Sam had a good time playing with D's cars and race thing.

We decided to meet up with Sam's mom, Ashley, and his brother, John, for dinner before church. For a little refresher, this is M's friend John - I just love these pictures of them, so stinkin' sweet.

Any way, M got her dinner and it was really hot and I told her to blow on it but apparently that wasn't doing it. John was so sweet and went over and blew on her food for her until it cooled down.

Last night, as we were saying our prayers M prayed and thanked God for a good day and then she said, "Lord, thank you for giving John a good day swimming with his mom."

Everyone say it together now: "Awwwwwwwwwww"

Such sweet friends.

Trip to the dentist

Okay, I hate to admit this, but despite the fact that M is 5-years-old and D is 3-years-old, today was the first time that either had seen a dentist. What possessed me to schedule and appt. at 8:20 am I'll never know but we made it and that was good.

The kids did GREAT! They didn't cry and weren't scared at all. Surprisingly, neither had any cavities and the dentist said that their oral hygiene was great. Gotta love that! Here are some pics.




A couple of extra pics. D & O both got up super early but fell asleep on my bed. This is how I found them after I took a shower.

We were out & about this morning and I grabbed this shot of all three kids at one of the parks we went to. I love it!

Splash Pad

Okay, I finally was able to get the pictures off my camera from the other day at the splash pad. The kids had a great time, even O who just preferred to stay on the side-lines.

Time to step it up

Being a Christ-follower involves more than just attending a church each week, absorbing what is shared with us and then going home to our "regular" lives. I firmly believe that we should be doing several things. We should be active in sharing our faith through any way that we can, with our friends, with our neighbors, to those that don't know Jesus. We should also be active in volunteering in our church. It drives me absolutely nuts when people attend week after week yet refuse to see how God can use them in the church they claim to be a part of.

David McCaman, high school pastor at First Baptist, shared some interesting statistics this weekend in his message (a MUST hear if you have time).

Statistics on generational believers:

World War 2 generation – 65% adults claim to be believers

Baby boomers – 35% of adults claim to be believers

Generation X – 16% of adults claim to be believers

Millennial generation (Seniors graduating, high school) 4% claim to be believers!!!

In America, 15 & 16 year olds (10 million) – 1 million more than any other 2 ages combined.

85% of students who don’t accept Christ before they leave high school, never will

2/3rds of believing adults in America came to Christ before they were 18 years old.

Why such a drastic drop in the % of people claiming to be believers???? Do you see those numbers???? If you are a believer, especially one with children, they should scare you!

What kills me hear is that the area of the church that is the hardest to find volunteers? Nursery, preschool, children, middle school & high school!!!! No wonder the numbers are dropping, no one wants to invest in the CHILDREN - it's always someone else's job.

Wrong. It's OUR job. If you are a believer and are attending a church then you NEED to invest in that church. You NEED to share your faith with the younger generations. Don't look at volunteering in the nursery, children's or high school ministry as a nuisance. You are the face of Jesus to these kids. That's exciting. That's needed. It's not a nuisance.

That said, I want to clarify that I think you need to make sure your heart is in things and that you are where God wants you to be. As a mom to three preschoolers, I have many times felt the unspoken assumption that I must volunteer in the nursery & preschool ministry because of my kids. At my former church, I did volunteer in that area and I have to tell you, I didn't do it joyfully, I did it because they needed someone to step up and not many would. If they asked me to volunteer, I never even thought about saying no.

I have to tell you, about a week ago I was asked if I would consider volunteering to work in the preschool area every other week. I said "no" and tried to explain why. I have three preschoolers and honestly, I need a break from that age group and that's okay. I said "no" because my heart would not have been in it and that would have been a disservice to those kids and to the Lord. And, thankfully, the person who asked me said that she understood.

Tonight I got to get a taste of another ministry in our church that I think I'd really like to be a part of - the high school ministry, Crave. I have to tell you, I am a bit intimidated thinking about this. I haven't been around high schoolers for any length of time, well, since I was one and that was quite a while ago. When thinking about where I should volunteer, I immediately thought of the high school ministry and then thought better of it because it just made me uncomfortable. I started thinking about what it meant to me when I accepted Christ the summer before my senior year of high school and my Wed. night youth group was an amazing thing to be a part of my first year as a Christian. So, maybe going and helping where I feel uncomfortable and inadequate is right where God wants me to be. He can be my strength where I definitely feel weak. After going tonight, I am REALLY excited to see what God does through this. I am EXCITED to share my faith with a group of high school girls and maybe, just maybe, teach them how to take their faith beyond the church walls.

If you haven't stepped up and been active in your church - DO IT NOW. Don't wait for someone else to do it. Look at those numbers again and then STEP UP.

What a day!

Good stuff, bad stuff, stuff stuff. Here we go:

Went to the Splash Pad this morning with Becca & her crew. It was fun & I'd share pics but I'm just not sure where my cable is to get my pics off of my digital (no honey - I didn't lose the cord to my new camera like I did the charger - it's from the old camera). When I find the right cable, you'll see some adorable pics. Wish I could say that I finally went somewhere with my kiddos and had my act together. I got there 15 minutes late (sorry Becca) and then I realized I left our lunch sitting on the counter at the house. I'm so organized (NOT)!

O STILL has an ear infection!!!! A little background, O had tubes put in his ears over a year ago and one has fallen out. Well, this is the ear that keeps getting infected. He got an EI right before we went to Oklahoma and he still has it despite 2 rounds of antibiotics. So, today he got a shot of Rosefin (misspelled, I'm sure), another round of Augmentin and a referral to an ENT. I guess we're probably headed back for a second round of tubes. Poor kid, his legs were so sore tonight and he wasn't himself.

Remember - last Thursday?

Apparently I told D a lot of things "last Thursday". A young child's concept of time is just so funny sometimes. So, to D, EVERYTHING happened "last Thursday."

Chocolate/Banana Bomb Pop

One of my favorite sweet treats was brought around by the ice cream man - the chocolate & banana bomb pop. YUM! Every time the ice cream man comes through our neighborhood I have to restrain myself from running out there and buying one LOL!

Well, now, I have something else that will always remind me of one of my favorite sweet treats - my downstairs bathroom!!!!!

About 6 months ago I purchased paint for all three of our bathrooms. We got our master bath painted but after painting our family room/kitchen and living/dining room we were burned out on painting and the paint just sat there. Well, I was wanting to paint my craft room as I have an idea for it but couldn't justify painting it until we got the other two bathrooms painted so I decided to get started again. I took the paint back to Lowe's and had the cans shook up again since they've sat for so long and then I got working.

My "vision" for our downstairs bathroom was a very, very light cream color with a tinge of yellow. I found the sample of the paint that I thought would be "perfect" and got it, expecting the room to look as I had envisioned.

NOT SO.

Note to self, small room w/no windows and yellowish lighting magnifies any tiny bit of yellow in the paint and suddenly I have Little Miss. Sunshine living in my bathroom. Oh my goodness - you seriously needed sunglasses to go in that room. WOW!

So - you may be wondering where the chocolate part of that choc/banana bomb pop comes in. Well - wait for it, it's coming.

First I grabbed some white paint we had lying around and tried to dry brush over the yellow and then I tried using a plastic bag for a different technique on another wall. No noticeable change.

I painted it a slightly lighter color without improvement and then decided to try the paint that we had used on our family room & kitchen. I couldn't simply go for straight painting with that one either. I again tried dry brushing and using a plastic bag and it didn't look bad at all but all I could think of was how my bathroom now looked like a bomb pop! Seriously - chocolate and banana was all I could think when I looked at it.

So - I painted over it with the family room/kitchen color - classic khaki.

After seeing how crazy the yellow looked it that bathroom I am thinking I need to not paint the kids' bathroom yellow. Theirs is a duck theme and yellow would look great - a bright, vibrant yellow - and yes, I purchased this paint about 6 months ago as well. We have the same lighting in there as well so I'm betting it would be crazy yellow.

So - does anyone need any yellow paint? Seriously! I have PLENTY.

Saving money

I'm not the best person in the world at watching the bottom line, just ask my husband. It's NOT my strong point. I easily forget what I spent the day before and I just don't plan very well and end up making several trips to the store and always seem to come home with stuff we don't need.

There are ways that I know are obvious but I was wondering what your tips are for saving a few bucks here & there. Living on one income is a new experience for us!

Watch & Learn

My middle son and the things that he says!!!

Tonight I was trying to get D to eat his carrots. I was joking with him that he wouldn't be able to do it. His response to me, "Mom, watch & learn."

Oh my - this kid just kills me sometimes with the things that he says.

You're being ridiculous mom

Sometimes my kids just kill me with the things that they say.

This morning I was making Drew sit on the potty. He has a bad habit of throwing a fit when I make him sit because he hates to poop (tmi - I know). At any rate, after sitting there for about 20 minutes and telling me that he couldn't poop he turns to me and says in his best 3-year old pronunciation - "You're being ridiculous Mom".

Gotta love it.

What would you do?

I had a truly uncomfortable experience today that just got more uncomfortable when I went to church this evening.

I went with my friend, Ashley, to McDonald's today to let the kids play together and well, the lady at the register was very unfriendly. When I ordered my initial meal she made a couple of comments & faces when I was trying to order something because she put it into her register incorrectly. I didn't get exactly what I wanted but honestly, she seemed to be in a pretty sour mood and I didn't feel like getting into it with her.

Fast forward.

The kids are done with their meals and asked for ice cream so I obliged. I went back up to the register and she was still there and still in just as sour a mood. I wanted to order kid's size ice cream cones. Now, I didn't realize that they had tiny little cones, I thought that a kid's size ice cream was a regular cone but half the amount of ice cream on it. That is what I've gotten every time I've ever ordered it at every other McD's. When another lady started to get out the tiny cones, I asked if that was what I ordered and basically said that it wasn't what I wanted or thought I was ordering. I wasn't rude & I wasn't mean. She, however, responded VERY, VERY rudely and basically gave me tremendous attitude.

At that point I was NOT happy and decided that the ice cream cones weren't worth the hassle and commented as such and walked off. A manager was standing right there during the entire transaction.

Now, I was a bit hot about it and came back in the play area and spouted off a little bit. Probably should have controlled my tongue a bit around my kids (didn't say any cuss words, just expressing my frustration a bit strongly).

A few minutes later I asked to speak with the manager and she told me that she was sorry and that this particular employee had been involved in SEVERAL altercations with co-workers and with customers and that my little interaction with her was the third today and she told her to clock out & go home. I don't believe she was fired, just sent home for the day.

I thought that was the end of it.

Fast forward again to tonight. Morgan was singing in church and I take her in along with the rest of my family. As I was leaving the front area a lady says "Hi! Do you remember me? From today?" in a very "cheerful" voice. Condescendingly cheerful, not genuinely cheerful. It was then that I realized that I had seen this lady before EVERY WED NIGHT IN CHURCH. All I could say at that point was "Yeah - I do" and walk off.

So now, every time I'm in church on Wed. night and see her I will feel awkward. I probably should apologize for being a bit rude in how I walked off but honestly, it's hard to think of doing that when I feel that she was SO far over the line in how she treated me (and apparently others). With her fake cheerful tone it felt like she was saying "And you say you're a Christian" and quite truthfully that's exactly what I was thinking about her.

So - if you were me, what would you do? Should I ignore it and hope it ends there (she initiated conversation with me, I don't know if she'd do it again)? Should I apologize for my inappropriate response to her? If I do apologize, should I comment on how I felt when she treated me as she did? Am I dumb for even thinking about this further?

Oh & not that it probably matters but she is about 20 years my senior.

Our Oklahoma Trip

Here is a slideshow of our time in Oklahoma. We miss our friends so much! Thank you for spending time with us while we were out there. You are always welcome to come toTN and visit us too (hint hint!).

My little cutie

I am waiting on my slideshow of our trip to Oklahoma to be created and I thought I'd post this pic of O. I JUST LOVE THIS PICTURE! Isn't he adorable???

Tag!

I've been tagged by Becca & Megan so here it goes.

Here are the rules. Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about the seven things and the rules. You need to choose seven people to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I lived in Germany when I was really young (yrs 1-4, I think) and I learned to speak German at the same time that I learned English. I even went to a German preschool where they didn't speak English.

2. I was a cheerleader for 2 years (I think) in jr. high. Our colors were yucky gold & brown. Hated wearing that uniform!

3. I was on the swim team my sophomore year in high school. I stunk at it! I did, however, like swimming and got my lifeguard certification in high school and helped out at the pool on the Air Force base that we lived on.

4. My "dream" when I was growing up was to be a famous movie director and to ride around NYC in a black, stretch limo. As you can see - I'm close to reaching that goal LOL!

5. I LOVE to play cards. Rook, spades, hearts, nerts, hands & feet, russian rummy - you name it. Good thing Eric likes to play too - anyone else like to play, maybe we can get together!

6. Panda bears are my favorite animal. I have two nicknames to go along with it too - Pandie and Andie Panda. I can't wait to go see the Pandas at the Memphis zoo!

7. I rarely actually sing in church or anywhere else that someone could actually hear me. I am normally mouthing the words. I can sing in tune (most of the time) but it doesn't necessarily sound good. If you stand next to me in church I can pretty much guarentee that you won't be hearing me sing. Get me in the car with my IPOD and just my kids and, well, I let loose LOL!

I'd tag 7 more people but everyone I know that blogs has already been tagged so this is it.

Chick-Fil-A!!!

Okay, if you've known me for any length of time then you probably know that I LOVE CHICK-FIL-A! It is one of my absolute favorite places to eat. I worked there for many years while in high school and early college and it was my pregnancy craving with Morgan (could that be why she hates it?).

Well, when we moved to middle TN, I was excited that there was a CFA about 15 miles up the road - much closer than when we lived in OK. I've frequented that store many times since moving here.

Imagine my excitement when I heard that a CFA was opening here in Smyrna!!!! WOOHOO!! It opened yesterday & of course I just had to go along with my other "Chicken Way" buddies!!!!

All we need now is for the Super Target to open and well, I've got my little slice of heaven. LOL!

And we're home...

Wow! Over the last 10 days we have done so much! We went to MO to visit Grandma & family and then on to OK to visit friends from our old hometown. Eric couldn't take off with me so he drove me to OK and then flew back to Nashville. We missed having him with us during the week.

I have SO much I can post but honestly, after driving 2 days with 3 kids by myself with very little good sleep at night, I AM EXHAUSTED!!!

G'night!

Silly prayer request

Okay, I know this is probably really minor and it's kind of silly to pray about it but if you could join me and pray that it doesn't thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon & evening that would be great. We are away from home for a short time and where we are is supposed to storm all weekend. There is something that our kiddos REALLY want to do but it won't happen if it's storming.

THANKS!

Great quote

I was reading a comment left on another blog and saw a quote that really struck a cord in me. It was on the back on a business card left by a technician:

"If you meet me and forget about me, you have lost NOTHING but if you meet Jesus and forget about Him, you have lost EVERYTHING".

I can't expand much on that as I think it says it all.

Why?

Okay, something has bugged me every since moving to TN and after driving today, I just have to ask.

WHY do they "do" the roads the way that they do here, I seriously don't get it.

You can be at a stop sign and if you turn right the road is under one name and if you turn left, it's another. Example - if you are at the intersection of Broad street and 96 it is Old Fort Parkway if you turn right (coming from Smyrna) or Memorial if you turn left. It is like that EVERYWHERE.

You can be driving on a road and it will change names for no apparent reason. Example - Nissan, Hwy 102, Lee Victory Parkway, Almaville Rd, and eventually Sam Ridley = ALL THE SAME ROAD!

Or, better yet, you can turn onto a new road but the name will be the exact same as the road you just turned off of. Example = One Mile Road, Rocky Fork (or whatever this road is named), etc.

Ackk! This makes a newbie to the area CRAZY.

Never thought I'd say this

I'm thankful for my insurance company!!! Dental insurance, that is. It's usually so much easier to gripe about insurance companies, I know I've had my fair share of gripes, but this time I'm kind of happy with them.

I went to the dentist this morning because I needed to get a crown on a back molar that I lost a filling from 3 weeks ago. After doing some work (basically whittling down my tooth to NOTHING), the dentist told me that I needed to be referred to an Endodontist for a root canal. The dr. they normally refer to was supposed to be really good and would probably be able to get me in today or tomorrow. Well, that didn't happen. I guess all the drs. in that practice were in PA for some kind of dental conference. Ughh. I sure didn't want to wait 10+ days to go get this root canal done as I imagine I'd be in some pain.

I started calling around and I called all the drs. that were in-network but none could get me in. I called another dr. and they could get me in tomorrow but they were out-of-network. Ughhh.

I called my insurance company, explained the situation, and they approved a one-time visit with this out-of-network dentist without any problem!!!! WOOHOO! I'm so used to having to fight with insurance companies for things that I was pleasantly suprised when they didn't give me any fight on this.

So - tomorrow I get to go have a root canal! YUCK. Good thing that dental work is the one thing that truly doesn't bother me that much. I guess it's from all those years growing up with a variety of orthodontic appliances in my mouth.

Glad I didn't have to wait 2 weeks as the numbing medication is wearing off and this thing HURTS.

OH & the dentist that I went to was great - Dr. Alissandratos. I wasn't overly impressed the first time I went there, I have to be honest, but today his staff was very friendly and he was very nice as well. I got to hear first hand how they interact with children and I am impressed and confident that they will do a great job with my kiddos.