Bowman Family

2012-02-16T11:44:00.004-05:00

Counting of Blessings continued... it's been awhile!

371. Hearing the girls sing along to Adele.

372. Dinner out Saturday night with just Matt.
373. A family breakfast before school/work on Valentine's Day. We had monkey bread, eggs, and fruit. Julia's eggs were pink/red.

Audrey wouldn't smile for me...

Ah, there's a smile.

374. The fun of packing a special something in the girls' lunches on Valentine's Day. Julia's always begging for Lunchables, but she rarely gets them. I surprised her with a pizza lunch able in her lunchbox. Audrey had a heart shaped sandwich and cheese stick. I also gave each of them a couple of fruit kabobs that they loved and have asked for again.

375. Getting to peak in on Audrey throughout our days at preschool. I love seeing her with her friends.

376. Losing 5 lbs in the last 3 weeks.
377. Getting to help lead Kids Club at Julia's school. This is a Christian club that meets before school once a week. We usually have about 75 kids in the Kindergarten and 1st grade group.
378. Perkiness this morning despite the dreary weather. I was driving home from Kids Club and I couldn't help myself from getting excited. I was making silly and stupid faces to myself in the car. I'm sure I looked like a moron to anyone that passed me, but I was loving the feeling of peace that surrounded me. I don't always have this.
379. A 5 day weekend for Julia and 6 days off for me and Audrey! Baldwin County gets Monday and Tuesday off for Mardi Gras, and we're not allowing Julia to participate in a MG parade at school Friday. Her teacher said the entire day would be spent preparing for this event, so she's not even going a half day.
380. Excused absence -Within 15 minutes of my handing a letter to a school secretary explaining our religious objections to the Mardi Gras parade, Matt received a phone call from the principal saying her absence for the day was excused.

A pie and a poster

2012-02-11T22:14:00.005-05:00

Audrey made a pie yesterday.

Mommy helped a little, but Audrey did the important stuff... you know... stir, sprinkle, lick spoon, etc. We only had 1 box of pudding and our pudding pie recipe called for two, but we Bowman ladies knew just how to improvise to add more bulk... special extras!

I think Audrey enjoyed her creation.

Julia did too.

Speaking of Julia... The Kindergarteners were to do a 100 objects poster last month, but I forgot to take a picture of hers before we sent it in. Here's a picture of the poster we got back. Several leaves have fallen off, but I still wanted to document this Kindergarten project for her.

2012-02-05T21:18:00.000-05:00

2 things melt this mama's heart faster than most anything else:

the sweetness of sleeping babes...

... and handprint crafts

The Good Child

2012-01-28T13:29:00.004-05:00

It's rare that the girls are in trouble at the same time. Here's why. They like to be viewed as "the Good Child."

This morning Audrey was standing on a stool (stage) and performing. Julia came up and started swatting at her. While Julia was getting lectured, Audrey was seen twisting around on the stool with an expression that can only be described as a "sad smirk." She was being the Good Child. Audrey's sad smirk turned into a smiling smirk when Julia was ordered to give her a hug.

Another time, Julia was in trouble from freaking out during homework time. Matt was in Julia's room calming her down, and Good Child Audrey came skipping down the hallway (a great big smile on her face, of course) and hugged me saying, "I love you, Mommy." She even batted her eyelashes. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

I needed a Good Child Audrey picture to go with this post. Our first shot wasn't too bad.

But, of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone and continued the photo session.

I'm not looking for silly or crazy pictures, child! Let's try again.

Almost...

Ahhh, there we go! That's my Good Child Audrey!

Then, there's Good Child Julia. She shows up quite often too. Just the other night, Audrey walked to the dinner table and was unhappy with what was being served (AK would be happy if a peanut butter spoon was served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.) Audrey threw a fit and was sent to her room where she continued to cry and cry. The 3 of us left at the table got ready to pray. I asked Julia is she wanted to pray (to which she usually responds, "N. O. spells NO!") but on this particular night she replied, "N-- YES! Of course!" See, it's a Good Child thing.

Good Child Julia often shows up in the late afternoon when Audrey's fits are more pronounced due to tiredness. It is very hard to keep Audrey from falling asleep in the 5 o'clock hour and she's often in a FOUL mood. Julia, on the other hand, likes to walk around saying things like, "Daddy, I just want to snuggle with you. I missed you so much!"

Photo shoot time for Good Child Julia.

They fight a lot. They push. They shove. They tattle.

But sometimes, I see it. I see what I've wanted for them since the time I found out I would have 2 little girls. I see love. I see hugs. I see close friends. I see sisters who will likely share a relationship with each other longer than they will share with any other person ever... any other person ever!

Turning 29 for the 2nd time??

2012-01-22T13:42:00.001-05:00

Milestone birthdays (no matter how dreaded the birthday may be) should be commemorated with a few pictures, don't you agree?

Happy 30th birthday to me!

I probably shouldn't mention (but I will) that at 11:55 p.m. Friday night, as the clock steadily ticked towards the inevitable, I started crying. I don't like 30, I don't want to be 30. I figured tears would accompany this birthday, and I was right. It's silly, yes, but that's how it is. Now, on to better thoughts...

My mom came to visit this weekend. She came to celebrate my birthday, see Julia cheer, and to bring leftover Christmas presents that we just didn't have room for when we came back last month (our family has a history of being extra generous). Thank you, family!

A picture with cheerleader Julia and her very unqualified coach ;)

Ok, so my dear husband has been hassling me about turning 30 for over a year now. The first thing he said to me the morning of my 29th birthday was, "Welcome to the last year of your 20's!" He's been drawing attention to my gray hair for months, he's recently gotten the girls to refer to me as an old lady, and his Facebook status this week was "Trying to decide if it would be inappropriate to buy my wife's 30th b-day card from the "sympathy" section." So it's understandable that I would assume that the present pictured below would come from him.

But that present didn't come from Matt; it came from my mom. Thanks, Mom! Thanks so much... (sense the sarcasm)

After I opened presents, Audrey posed with me for a quick picture.

We hung out the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed dinner out that night. After dinner, I forced everyone to take pictures with me. I'm sure they just love it when I do that!

Me, the girls, and my mom

Me and Matt

Since Matt didn't bother to smile in that first picture, he had many more taken... including this closeup - YIKES!

Have I mentioned that I kind of like taking pictures of myself? Well, I do.

Ahh, now finally, let's talk about that vital part of any birthday celebration... the cake. My mom brought cupcakes with her when she drove down. She brought an assortment of flavors, but the kind I chose for myself was salted caramel. It was fabulous!

All in all, my 4th decade started marvelously.

Let's quickly count some blessings!

361. spending bday with my girls

362. spending bday with my husband

363. spending bday with my MOM! This was the first birthday spent with her since my 22nd!

364. Fun time cheerleading this week

365. Facebook birthday messages lighting up my page

366. Presents - lots of new clothes :) thanks!

367. Birthday cards- thank you!

368. Phone calls from family

369. Lazy Sunday afternoons for me and the girls.

370. People actually reading this far down my blog page. Thanks, and have a great week!

Pics: 1/15/12

2012-01-19T16:25:00.008-05:00

Julia's Cheerleading Debut

2012-01-15T00:17:00.003-05:00

2 videos of Julia's "halftime show". Notice at the end of video 1 Julia throws in a spirited jump and high kick - cuteness! The end of video 2 is also cute, listen for Matt's "woohoo". Daddy's have to cheer for their daughters!

Report Card Day

2012-01-13T22:36:00.003-05:00

Despite Julia's less than stellar approach to homework...

...she brought home a fabulous report card today! Good job, little girl!
We got a Sonic slush to celebrate her hard work and good behavior. Then we went home for me to actually look at the report card.
Here we go: G (good), S (Satisfactory), or N (Needs Help) in 48 different subcategories, yes 48! She earned 47 G's and 1 "S". In case you're wondering, Julia's "S" was under Social Development - Maintains an appropriate attention span. :)

These 2 pages made me smile, but the next page was even better! Julia's DIBELS scores from December have far surpassed the END of Kindergarten goals. (DIBELS is a way to monitor reading skills for No Child Left Behind.) My baby is learning so much! It's so great to see how proud she is of herself as she is able to read more and more. I like to have a big reaction, "Who told you what that said??!!" To which she replies in her high, squeaky, excited voice, "No one! I read it!"

Mama Bear's going to have to make a copy of this report card!

351-360

2012-01-07T22:05:00.005-05:00

351. A sweet husband willing to take the girls to the zoo on their last day of Christmas vacation. We decided to go ahead and get a membership. As long as we go 2 more times in the next year it will be worth it. We figured we can stop by on our way to or from the beach!

352. A $13+ money maker at Rite Aid this week!

353. A sweet daddy/daughter pic

354. The cuteness of my 3 year old. She's been extra sassy this week (both in a good and bad way!)

355. A special kiss from Audrey. Audrey and I welcomed 2012 spending the night on the couch because she had a stomach bug. She really wanted us to snuggle, so we threw the back cushions off the couch and slept next to each other. She did a really great job of waking me up to get her the "throw up bucket" when it was needed. After one of those times, we had just snuggled back down and closed our eyes when I felt the sweetest, most tender kiss on the forehead. Oh. I melted. What a way to say "Thank you. I love you."

356. Matt having a friend to help change the Jeep's alternator last Sunday. Can you imagine if I had had to "help" him???

357. A fun (and long!) day of cheerleading today. Julia and I loved spending time with and getting to know our team!

358. Eating lunch with an old preschool friend who cheers on another squad.

359. A birthday party for Audrey and Matt to attend while we were gone today. I'm so glad AK had something special to do too! The birthday girl is a special friend from both church and preschool! Her dad is the one who helped Matt with the alternator.

360. The kindness of the birthday girl's mom to send Julia a treat bag even though she didn't attend. Matt and Audrey also came home with a plate of leftover cake balls. Yum!

2012-01-03T22:08:00.003-05:00

Julia refused to put on a certain pair of pajamas tonight because (in her words) they made her look fat. She said "If you look in the mirror you'll see. My stomach is fat." She was in tears! Oh, dear child. Please! I'm not ready for that kind of talk. I've tried to steer clear of body image comments in front of the girls, but I've obviously not been very successful.

My child. My Julia. You're perfect.

2012-01-03T00:35:00.003-05:00

Finishing up with Christmas posts... just a little late!

Our Elfie found a few other ways to get into mischief this year.

He roasted marshmallows.

He decided to write on a family photo.

Finally, although he went back to the North Pole after our early at home Christmas, he decided to visit us again in Tennessee. He just missed us too much!

Oh, Elfie. I love the excitement that you add to our Decembers! Your years with us are limited, but I think we'll continue to keep you around even after the girls get older for memory's sake.

Lord, do my girls really have to get older? Can't we just push pause?

Santa's visit

2011-12-31T15:32:00.004-05:00

This is out of chronological order, but too bad!

As mentioned, Santa came early to our house this year. Julia woke up first, and she and I scoped out the goods. We quickly ran back to get Audrey and Daddy to join us. Audrey's look of "Oh Yeah!" when we reminded her Santa had come was priceless, as was her hightailing it out of bed instead of burrowing under the covers like usual.

After checking out the toys, we looked in our stockings. Actually, no. After checking out the toys I made AK put on a shirt so that I could take pictures. Then, we got to the stockings. Julia upended her stocking, but Audrey took out 1 item at a time. At one point, Audrey got confused, looked at Julia's large stash and complained , "but I only have 1 of these..."

I reminded her that she still had a stocking full to pull out and all was well.
We're all smiles!

Ok, perhaps we're not all smiles, but we were silly.

And very protective of our new baby!

I love my new mug. Notice that dear daughter #1 has now decided to take off her shirt. Typical.

Our Christmas meal: sopapilla, fruit, eggs, sausage balls, and coffee/hot chocolate... complete with plenty of marshmallows.

A note explaining why I plan to always eat sausage balls at Christmas:
3 years ago, we had Christmas at home and I made sausage balls for us to enjoy that morning. The next day, we met Meme and Pop for a week at the beach. While there, 2 year old Julia came walking through the condo's kitchen and pulled a sausage ball out of her pocket that she had apparently stored there Christmas morning... yum...not really

I have told her this story every year since. She'll be sick of hearing it before long, but I'll always remember the "sausage ball in her pocket" story with a smile!

A Tennessee Christmas

2011-12-31T14:39:00.001-05:00

341. Safe travels to and from Tennessee.

342. Generous family spoiling all 4 of us!

343. Meeting the girls' first (and so far only) 2nd cousin, Adele Coplin! These are the Bowman great grandkids.

344. Spending time with 4 of the 6 great grandparents.

Meemaw Taylor

Granddaddy Bowman

345. Managing a calm Christmas Day complete with a nap for 3 of the 4 of us. Julia was the only one able to stay awake!

346. The girls' pride when getting to help in the kitchen.

347. Seeing my brother! This is 2 times in 1 year!!!

I sure do wish we saw them more often. I feel like a mere acquaintance with my sis-in-law Kelsey. She's perfectly sweet, I just don't know her well. Ok, back to the blessings...

348. Getting to spend time with the sis-in-law I do know well, Amy, and her family. I'll post pics of them as soon as they Facebook some - HA! Right now, the only picture they've posted from Christmas has been this:

I'm not sure why, but I love that pic. Thanks Jacob!

349. Mammy willing to visit us in a few weeks to deliver the rest of the presents. She'll be here for my birthday (we won't yet speak of the number) and to see Julia cheer!

The last night we were in town, Julia woke us up at midnight with her screaming. Seconds later she threw up all over the place (including all over Audrey!). She was sick all night and all day as we were traveling back to Alabama. Not fun! I thought we'd moved past all this, but Audrey's been sick today. Let's hope the sickness stops with her.

Blessing 350: 2011 ending with a lot of wonderful memories left behind.

Happy New Year!

The Girls' Blessings

2011-12-29T19:10:00.006-05:00

I'm glad that God gave us our family (Julia)

I'm glad God give us my momma (Audrey)

I'm thankful because God loves us (Julia)

I'm glad because God gives us my whole family (Audrey)

I'm glad because Jesus got born (Julia)

I'm glad because Jesus got us our rooms (Audrey)

I'm glad that God gave us His Son to die. (Julia)

I'm glad because God gave us our lamp (Audrey)

I'm glad because God came into our hearts (Julia)

I'm glad because God loves us (Audrey)

I'm thankful because God gave us Christmas to celebrate Jesus getting born (Julia)

I'm glad because God gives us our Christmas tree (Audrey)

I think that's enough (Julia)

NO! I'm thankful God give us our food, our kitchen, our TV, our Christmas tree, our lamps, our rooms, and our house. (Audrey)

I have one more, I'm thankful because God loves us and Jesus came into our heart. (Julia)

I'm glad because He gives us our movies. I got another one, I'm glad because He gave us our chairs. I'm glad because God gave us Momma's flowers. I'm glad because He gave us our dolls in the dollhouse... oh, and our pajamas... and my pajamas... and MY PAJAMAS! (apparently mommy didn't acknowledge her fast enough) I got another one, mom. I'm glad because God gave us our parents. And I got another one. I'm glad God gave us our table. I'm glad because God gave us our shirts, and pants, and our shoes. And my mom, my sister, and my daddy. I'm glad God gave us candy... (Audrey)

Blessings as Therapy

2011-12-19T21:45:00.009-05:00

I'm on day 3 of fighting a cold, the first 2 days of which I couldn't stand for more than 90 seconds at a time without feeling faint. I still can't swallow without grimacing. My heads been hurting like crazy, and my neck has been painful to move. I still had to go to church Sunday despite my feeling bad because my oh so sweet husband kept insisting that I was being a wimp. (Although, somehow, on our Christmas Saturday, my wimpy self played with the girls, bathed the girls, painted 20 little fingers and 20 little toes, and made dinner all the while Sir Matthew took his 2nd nap of the day... just saying)

I'm feeling old because my right knee has really been aching the last few days too. I've visited "webmd" multiple times reading up on cold vs. flu, osteoarthritis, brain tumors, and meningitis. (I might have a dramatic tendency.) I am spending Monday - Wednesday as a single parent since Matt's working a couple of 18 hour days and a 12+ hour day before we leave for TN Thursday. And did I mention that Julia asked me last night why I had all those zits on my face?

You could say that my week hasn't been very enjoyable thus far, and you'd be right. Tonight, what set me off in a heap of tears was my car not starting. Great, just great.

The tears have dried now, and I'm hoping that my typing all this up doesn't set them off again. I'd love to go into the whole rant I have about stuff that's bothering me, but what I think would be more therapeutic would be a listing of blessings. So, let's go!

331. The girls, somehow, didn't notice my tears tonight. They played together nicely for the worst of it, and after I'd calmed down, they didn't look at me close enough to see my splotchy face.

332. The excitement the girls get of having a campout in the living room. We're having one tonight.

333. Being loved all the way to "eighty-one" or "ninety-two" or what ever other number the girls come up with that's "a lot"!

334. Not being stranded or in a hurry to be anywhere when we realized my car wouldn't start tonight.

335. Christmas break. I have my Julia back for a few weeks!!!!! I miss that girl when she's in school.

336. Health. Despite my dramatics on webmd.com, I don't think I've actually had to go to the doctor because I was sick in over a decade.

337. Chocolate from our stockings. It's needed tonight. (Although that won't be good for all my zits or my feared osteoarthritis! BTW. I had 1 bump on my face. 1!)

338. Snuggling with the girls at night.

339. Snuggling with the girls during the day.

340. An excuse to sleep on the couch (we're camping out, remember?) so that I can fall asleep watching TV and not have any quiet time to let my mind think. Thinking tonight would not be good.

Pajama Days and our Christmas Eve

2011-12-17T22:22:00.007-05:00

Preschool Pajama Day was Tuesday.

Kindergarten pajama Day was Friday.

... and since I'd just taken a picture of Julia, Audrey wanted to take one too.

Soon after Julia left for school, I showed Audrey her video from Santa. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she wound up loving it. We watched it 5 or 6 times in all. Santa said she was on the "nice" list, but she needed to stop throwing those silly tantrums. I had to explain what tantrums were.

When Julia got home from school, I showed her her video from Santa

This is the look she gave when Santa told her to "be nice to her sister" - so guilty!

Fortunately, she wound up on the Nice list too!

Later Friday afternoon, we met Matt to look at the Park's Christmas lights and decorations. We'd played there the night of the Christmas parade, but I'd promised the girls we'd go back.

Audrey wouldn't slow down part of the time to take pictures. She was running and running and running. This is the best shot I got of her.

Now, Santa had to come early for us since we're traveling, so Friday night was actually our family's Christmas Eve. We enjoyed fine dining of Papa Johns pizza (Julia has recently decided that she likes pizza and has been begging to eat it!) After pizza, we had a delicious dessert of reindeer food, then we went outside to throw out a different kind of reindeer food! This magic reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter) shines in the moonlight and guides Santa's sleigh to your home.

Before bed, the girls said "good bye" to our elf, Elfie. It was so cute to hear them. Matt and I just grinned and grinned.

Matt read Luke 2 and Matthew 2 for our bedtime story, and then the girls fell asleep surprisingly fast!

Happy Christmas Eve to us!

Julia's class party

2011-12-15T15:53:00.005-05:00

Matt, Audrey, and I joined Julia's class for their Christmas Party this afternoon. I brought a drink, cookies, and a piece of candy for Audrey to eat, but Mrs. Mosley had extra class goodies to share. Both girls loved all the sugar! Matt and I loved getting to spend some time with Julia at school.

Worst Mom Award

2011-12-15T01:00:00.004-05:00

I might qualify for worst mom of the year for this one. Julia's been practicing the last few months for a Christmas musical at church. The program was Sunday and... here's the bad mom part... I didn't even remember to bring a camera. Fortunately, a friend of hers has a dad that is a photographer AND that friend was standing next to Julia in the program, so #1 bad mom wound up with pictures!

After the program, Julia looked up at me and said, "Why didn't you video me?" Oh, the guilt!

Elfie's mischief

2011-12-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

Our Elf on the Shelf has been up to a lot this week. He's gotten extra comfortable in our home and has begun acting out! He's gotten into Mama's makeup and written the girls a note on their mirror using lipstick. They were insistent that Santa know that Elfie had been bad. After school, Audrey decided that she needed to clean up Elfie's mess.

Another night, Elfie decided to get into the pantry. He had a snack and then went ahead and prepped the girls' school snack too. Mama wasn't too thrilled that the prepped snack was so unhealthy. The girls, however, approved wholeheartedly.

We're heading to see Santa tomorrow (Saturday) night. The girls have already had Elfie pass on our request for a special visit from Santa and his reindeer next Friday night. Yes, Santa's visiting us 8 days before Christmas since we'll be in TN on the 25th. We would have had Santa visit closer to Christmas, say the 23rd, but in order to actually see my brother (ahem), we've got to get on up there.

Blessings 321-330

2011-12-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

* 2 computers in the house so both girls can play online games at the same time

* Audrey making literary references. She insists she's a "hungry caterpillar" and needs snack after snack after snack...

* Extra time in the carline to spend making pom poms! I had 14 to do and they each took about 30 minutes.

* The excitement building for our first cheerleading practice tomorrow. Julia's cheerleading for Upward Basketball and I'm head coaching her squad. Saying I have no cheerleading experience is an understatement, but I'm definitely getting into the girly spirit of it!

* Our fabulous Christmas tree! (Can you believe Matt was the one who started pulling the tree and decorations out Thanksgiving morning? I didn't even ask (tell) him too! I was planning on doing it Friday instead. The girls had a lot of fun looking at the ornaments and decorating the tree. Thank goodness we had these little people to help us out by crawling under the tree.

* The fun of having our visitor from up north joining us again - Elfie!

* Cute Christmas dresses to wear

* A clean house thanks to our hosting life group this week.

* The cuteness of Audrey's snores.

* Homemade Christmas cookies

Blessing 311-320

2011-11-22T22:26:00.008-05:00

311. A family birthday celebration for dear Matthew.

312. New black boots that arrived in the mail last week and that make me feel extra stylish and confident (no easy feat! ;) pun not intended! Thanks Mom)

313. Laughs from Julia repeatedly saying that a kid in her class was "extended" (suspended)

314. Julia's excitement from getting to ride on the school bus for the first time. The Kindergarteners walked over to a garden near the school today but a bus drove them back b/c it started raining. She probably traveled 1/4 mile in the bus, but she was thrilled and kept telling us that she didn't have to have a seatbelt!

315. Audrey posing for a cute picture with me! She doesn't always like to pose.

316. Matt getting to stay for the Feast after Audrey's program. We thought he'd be joining Julia for a special Thanksgiving meal at school, but I messed up the date for that. There wasn't a conflict after all.

317. Audrey singing and participating in her program today. After a meltdown at VBS Family Night this summer and a dress flapping/no singing Graduation program this Spring, I didn't quite know what to expect from her.

318. Audrey really enjoying her friends from Preschool. Tommy is in this picture with her.

319. Julia's willingness to share a couple of hats she made this week.

320. 5 days of rest. We won't be seeing extended family at Thanksgiving this year :( but we will enjoy our Bowman family foursome time!

Thanksgiving Video!

2011-11-21T22:20:00.003-05:00

The girls enjoy pulling a chair into the living room to stand on and look at themselves while they perform in front of a mirror we have on the wall. Julia's been practicing her children's choir musical this way, and Thursday, I found Audrey practicing songs for her Preschool Thanksgiving program. Here's one:

Translation:
Jesus is God's Son. He can do anything.
That is why I worship Him. That's why I sing.
I'm praisin', I'm thankin' God for His Son, Jesus.
I'm praisin', I'm thankin' God for His Son, Jesus.

2011-11-11T15:58:00.006-05:00

Blessing #301 - A fun time of dressup for Halloween. We had Dr. Julia and Snow White Audrey at our house. Too bad I didn’t take any pictures…

Blessing #302 - Fun times creating Tom the Turkeys. Tom Turkey is trying to keep hidden so he won’t be eaten at Thanksgiving. Julia’s Tom has been disguised as a flower and Audrey’s as a rainbow.

Blessing #303 - The surprise of finding peelie coupons on our favorite muffin mix while the mix was BOGO. All 4 of us love Krusteaz Cinnamon Crumb Cake. Since it was a great price I bought 16 (maybe 18?) boxes. We enjoyed the first one this morning for breakfast.

Blessing #304 - A box of goodies in the mail from Mammy: new clothes, new jackets, and lightup boots!

Blessing #305 - Mrs. Mosley - Julia’s teacher. Julia’s learning a lot in Kindergarten, but she also really enjoys it. My overprotective self loves to see her beaming smile at the end of the day and hear her ramblings about all that happened. I must credit Julia’s teacher for a great experience.

Blessing #306 - well behaved kids… at least when they’re at school

Blessing #307 - Sweet little Audrey. I told the girls to hug and say goodnight last night. They hugged, kissed, and Julia said “Good night, sis.” Audrey responded with “Goodnight, sis and best friend.” Melted my heart…

Blessing # 308- the cuteness of wild and crazy hair. The girls have taken to sleeping in rollers the last few nights. Here's Audrey posing with her wild hair and her disguised turkeys.

Blessing #309 - The excitement this week signing Julia up to cheerlead. We 3 girls have had fun practicing motions for this oh so girlie adventure. Julia’s games will be Saturdays from January 14th- March 3rd.

Blessing #310 - free cheerleading outfit.

My coworker passed this orange and blue outfit down from her girls. Matt tried to teach Julia the “Gator chomp” using pom-poms, but everytime I tried to take a picture he tossed them away. This outfit is just for play. It isn’t the one she will wear for her games. Santa’s decided that Audrey will have cheerleading attire under the tree that she can wear to the games too!

I heart...

2011-10-20T00:02:00.008-04:00

We headed to Gator Beach today. We've been here before, but it's always fun to check out the alligators!
Blessing 291 - free and fun attractions! I heart Gator Beach.

Blessing 292 - Seeing my girls have fun with Pop. I heart Pop!

Blessing 293 - unexpectedly finding a funny picture. I heart funny pictures.

Blessing 294 - Posing little girls. I heart sassy little girl poses.

Blessing 295 - Time with our nephews/cousins. I heart Eli and Brodye.

Brodye jumped in our family picture. :)

Matt's sister, Amy, and her family - sweet, sweet.

Blessing 296 - seeing these cousins enjoy time together. I heart cousin bonding.

Blessing 297 - getting to celebrate Meme's birthday in person. I heart Meme.

Blessing 298 - Pumpkin cheesecake. I heart cheesecake.

Blessing 299 - sleeping children. I heart sleeping children.

Blessing 300 - laughs with Amy and Jacob. I heart Amy and Jacob.

Thanks for bearing with me on this "I heart..." post. Rereading this thing kind of annoyed me, but it didn't annoy me enough to retype it. It's probably not a good thing when you annoy yourself, is it?

281-290

2011-10-19T16:05:00.001-04:00

281. What a blessing to have a new small group to get together with once a week. It's so great to get to know some new people!

282. What a blessing to have Julia doing so well at school. I couldn't help but take a picture of her discipline chart for September.

283. What a blessing to get to spend some 2 on 1 time with Audrey on Thursdays. Julia's at school, Matt's off work, and our younger child gets some special attention.

284. What a blessing to have a fully stocked dress up chest for the girls to play in. Those 2 certainly don't do without in the toy department. Thanks, family!

285. What a blessing to see the girls prance around in high heels. Love it!

286. What a blessing that their makeup rarely leaves stains.

287. What a blessing to be the mother of 2 perfectly imperfect daughters!

288. What a blessing that I knew what pinworms were before I discovered them in the girls. (TMI? Sorry, but I thought I'd document it for their later mortification. Besides, I seriously am very glad that I happened to learn what pinworms were just a few months ago!)

289. What a blessing to be on vacation this week with Matt, Julia, Audrey, Jimmie Kay, Danny, Amy, Jacob, Brodye, and Eli!

290. What a blessing to arrive at the condo in time for some water play Tuesday. Wednesday is supposed to be much cooler!

Random stuff

2011-10-18T23:15:00.005-04:00

I'm with the inlaws and the complaints have already begun... ha! I'm not blogging enough!!

Our preschool went to the Corn Maze last week. Audrey had a great time.

Julia is doing great at school. She just loves her teacher, her friends, and the whole Kindergarten experience. Here she is doing some homework.

Despite my ramblings about how wonderful my kids are, sometimes they aren't perfect.

Example: Markers and crayons on the wall.

Blessings 271-280!

2011-09-30T13:13:00.006-04:00

271. Beautiful fall weather. We're heading to the beach tomorrow for a nice afternoon!

272. Kids Club. (Actually, it’s called Kids Klub, but I refuse…) I’ve been volunteering this year to help with a Christian club that meets at Julia’s school one morning a week. All I do is lead a few songs and help with crowd control, but I’m enjoying my time there.

273. Sisterly bonds.

The girls aren’t allowed to sleep together on school nights. However, if one falls asleep the other is allowed to move next to her. They wind up together nearly every night b/c of this. I’d provide a picture of them sleeping next to each other, but they tend to sleep without pajamas.

... Come to think of it, they do pretty much everything without clothes on. Hmm... is this strange? Perhaps, we should be more strict about clothes wearing at our home. Please notice the strategically placed hand and book in the next 2 pics. :)

274. I’m blessed that Julia enjoys doing her homework (most of the time)

275. Seeing Audrey cuddling with her Daddy.

276. Going to school and sitting with Julia while she ate lunch today… just because.

277. Handmedowns we received this week. We now have plenty of dresses for Julia the next couple of summers! (Assuming she bothers to put any clothes on!) They’re so cute, and some still had the tags on them. One of my coworkers gave them to us. Thank you so much!

278. A good looking 1st haircut – Audrey had her haircut for the first time last Saturday. I did it myself, and I must say it turned out looking good despite her moving around A LOT!

279. Julia taking photos and video of the first haircut since Matt was away for the weekend. I would love to post some of those pictures, but... well... you guessed it, AKB wasn't wearing any clothes.

280. Delicious desserts. We had pumpkin cheesecake last night (and there's more in the refrigerator for tonight!) and the girls split this snow cone at a local festival recently.

2011-09-19T23:14:00.003-04:00

I felt very old today when my kid came home with her first "progress report".

2011-09-17T11:46:00.004-04:00

September Friday nights in the South just don't feel complete without a high school football game to attend.

And because I'm a true fashion diva, my hair looks fabulous and I'm wearing plaid. Be jealous of my style. Be jealous.

First Kindergarten "Project"

2011-09-15T22:14:00.004-04:00

Julia has homework to do regularly, but last weekend was Julia's first little project that she had to complete for school, an "All About Me Tee."

I printed off applicable logos for her to cut out and glue on. She also painted, markered, and stickered the paper up a good bit for color. The one thing I'm second guessing myself on is helping her write some of the words in that middle part. I might not should have "helped" her so much, but Julia just can't write small enough yet to fit those words in the provided space.

Julia'sFavorites:
Place to eat: Chick-fil-a
Visit: Tennessee and Kangarooz
Thing to do at home: eat and play with dollhouse
Thing to do at school: p.e. and math
Thing to do in the community: go to church and library
Food: taco's
Song: Derek and the Dominos' "Layla".
Movie: Tangled
Book: Berenstain Bears

Counting while worrying...

2011-09-03T13:23:00.004-04:00

I've been worrying about stuff lately (because that's just what I do best) so I'm turning some of those worries into recognized blessings. Here we go.

261. My weather worries aren't currently about our safety. Yes, I'm already bailing water off our porch and clearing closets that have a history of flooding (lovely), but potentially losing "stuff" to Tropical Storm Lee doesn't give me a near panic attack like tornado warnings do.

262. A break in the rainfall at this moment.
263. A 3 day weekend with little to do (other than bail water off the porch)

264. The feeling of camaraderie I feel when wearing TN orange on game day. I'm not near many other Vols fans, but knowing family is wearing orange too makes me feel good.

265. More than expected in my paychecks last month. This isn't supposed to continue, but it's great to have for August!

266. Julia's pride in showing us around her school during Open House Thursday. On an annoying note: I made sure to bring my camera with me to take pics of Julia in her room (since I forgot on the first day) but GUESS WHAT! I forgot to take any pictures! Cameras serve no purpose if they just stay in mom's purse! grrrr....

267. Girls willing to pose for a picture when I asked. We're ready for game day! Although Julia's already taken her jersey off... "it's itchy"

268. The huge hug Audrey gave Julia immediately after this picture was taken. I might not should mention that Julia whined and cried while receiving this big huge hug.
269. TS Lee not (yet?) interfering with our College Football viewing.
270. Free Kindergarten and preschool learning games available on the computer. I have a feeling we will be using these alot during this very wet 3 day weekend.

Counting my blessings!

2011-08-26T23:49:00.006-04:00

261. A built in workout time. 2 days this week Audrey and I decided not to just sit in the car during our wait in the carline. Instead, we pulled out the stroller and went for a 40-45 minute walk. Here's a picture of Audrey entertaining herself in the car on one of the days we didn't exercise.

262. Dinner tonight with a family from church who will be co-leading a Life Group with us. They have 2 young girls too. Those 4 sure know how to make a mess with toys!

263. Little complaining from our girls during "clean up time" following the aforementioned dinner with friends.
264. Plenty of extra food from our dinner tonight to make tomorrow a fabulous day for leftovers!
265. The sweetness of sleeping children (and a sleeping dad!)

266.Good reports reguarding Julia's behavior at school. Not only has she gotten all 5's on her report sheet each day, but according to her, Julia is 1 of 3 kids in the class that often gets to run errands for the teacher. Walking a sick friend's backpack to the principal's office, walking the lunchcount to the cafeteria, picking up cupcakes from the front office, and more!

267. Precious time playing with just Audrey today. My favorite time was spent doing a quick reenactment of Sleeping Beauty pricking her finger and then being kissed awake. We did this over and over.

268. A successful french braid "just like Julia's" - I was afraid Audrey's hair would be too thin, but it braided.

269.Children who are so proud of their schoolwork that they want to throw nothing away! I know a few people who keep EVERYTHING their child brings home from school, but I just can't bring myself to do that! Can you imagine how much "stuff/junk" that would quickly grow to be? Instead, I'll keep something occasionally, but mostly I'll take a few items and photograph them.

270. A birthday party to attend at Kangarooz tomorrow! We haven't been there since Audrey's birthday!

251-260

2011-08-18T10:02:00.006-04:00

Showing off school clothes: Julia can wear this "field trip" shirt on Wednesdays.

A picture of Audrey is required if I take a picture of Julia.

If you'll remember, awhile back I started a 1,000 Blessings list for myself and vowed to list no less than 10 blessings a week. I've really been slacking lately on the blessings and on blogging in general. Perhaps with school back in session I'll get back into a blessings/blogging routine.

251. Julia enjoying her first few days of school. She hasn't cried at all.

252. My school day tears not occuring until after dropping Julia off. I didn't cry the first day, but I cried the next 2 days at drop off and a couple of days at pick up too.

253. Audrey having NO PROBLEMS going into her preschool class. We were a little concerned because at preschool orientation all she would do was sit in the rocking chair in her class, rock back and forth, repeating "I don't like my new friends. I don't like my new friends." She's been just fine with her new teacher and new friends.

254. Audrey enjoying waiting in the carline at school. Julia's school gets out at 2:45. I'd heard (and have now experienced) that the carline can be LONG, so this week we have gotten there extra early (2:05-2:10) in order to be towards the front of the line. Despite the blazing heat, I turn the car off, roll down the windows, and allow Audrey to climb up front with me. She gets the biggest kick out of sitting in the front seat! We make sure to bring along ice water, crayons/color sheets, and a snack.

255. "Up Daddy home day" is today, and Audrey gets Mommy and Daddy all to herself! Daddy has played barbies and now Audrey is watching Snow White. We haven't watched Snow White in a long time because Julia insists she's terrified of the mean Queen. Audrey's enjoying not having to share parental attention for a little while!

256. A not too strict "resttime" for Julia. Julia has learned alot this week. Each day she's telling me the backstory of one of her classmates. I have since learned that this information is mostly exchanged during the 40 minutes long rest time. If pure quiet was required, we'd be getting alot of notes home!

257. The excitement of "homework." Starting Tuesday this week, we have an assignment every day but Friday. The first night of homework (pictured below) was to write her first name 3 times and to draw a picture of herself.

258. A yummy french toast breakfast with Matt and Audrey (I did make eggs for Julia before she left). Audrey wouldn't eat any french toast, but that just means I have leftovers for Julia to have breakfast for lunch at school tomorrow. Any other ideas for lunches? I'd like to steer clear of the peanut butter/turkey sandwich rut!

259. Insider reports on Julia. A teenager we know well from church, Breanna, comes to the Elementary school in the afternoons. Breanna has been helping inside with the kids waiting for the carline. She said that most of the Kindergartners don't know their names, especially not their last name. (I find this weird... 5 year old should know their name!) The teachers and aides have to go up and down the hallway reading name tags as the carline names get called in from the walkie talkie because just calling out the names gets them nowhere. Breanna reported to us Tuesday night that when the call came in for "Bowman. Julia Bowman" Julia raised her hand and said "I'm Bowman." Matt finds this funny that she's already referring to herself as just "Bowman." I find this funny because while Julia knows her name, the school does not. It apparently was put into the computer wrong because her name is on everything as "Bowan"

260. Fun packages received in the mail. We now have 2 Rapunzel wigs in our home. Thanks, Mammy.

1st Day!

2011-08-15T21:45:00.009-04:00

Despite my begging, pleas, and meltdowns, God decided not to stop time.

Today came.

August 15.

Kindergarten.

My baby.

Check out my 3 year old model - wow - pose Audrey!

Now we're only posing for silly face pictures...

And now we're officially finished with the photo shoot.

All 4 of us marched in the elementary school together, and halfway down the hallway I realized I had left the camera in the car. :( I didn't get any pictures of her in her classroom! Oh well. I do have this picture that a church friend who is in the same class facebooked.

There were no tears from either me or Julia as we said "good-bye." I got misty around 10:30 thinking about her at lunch. And get this... I cried while picking her up. Who cries at pick up instead of drop off? Apparently, I do.

Happy 1st day of Kindergarten, love! I'm glad it was a good one.

Friends moving :(

2011-08-13T17:02:00.004-04:00

Some of our favorite Robertsdale people moved to GA last month. This family was in our life group and had 3 girls that Julia and Audrey just loved being around. These older girls are marvelous examples for my 2!

Laura is the oldest of the 3 girls in this family. My girls had an extra attachment to her because she often helped out in Children's Church, VBS, etc.

Here I am reading a letter Laura wrote to Julia and Audrey. So sweet!

I don't know what happened to 'sugar and spice and everything nice' but my girls really like to "beat people up"... i.e. wrestle. (See - I need model families like this one to help teach ME how to raise sweet daughters!) "Beating Laura up" was a favored activity between them, so Laura snapped pictures of my girls making their "mean faces".

A family picture with Laura.

Silly faces with Laura and Emily!

Tough face??

By the way, when at home this family referred to Matt as "MattyBo" - hilarious!

Kindergarten

2011-08-11T22:56:00.006-04:00

I hate Kindergarten.

It's NOT an exciting step of independence.
It's NOT a room full of precious 5 year olds.
It's NOT a time to celebrate!

Instead, it's a terrifying thrust into reality.
It's a room full of snotty nosed potential bullies to the 1 precious 5 year old in the class!

It's a time for tears and mommy breakdowns!

In case you can't read between the lines, I'm not looking forward to dropping my child off at Kindergarten Monday. I'm terrified!

Yet despite this overwhelming sense of uncertainty, it's my job to put on a brave face, force encouraging words from my mouth, and willingly send my firstborn off to face the world on her own. I can't, however, keep millions of questions from running through my head.

What if she has a hard time making new friends?
What if she has a mean teacher?
What if she gets lost in the 1,000+ student school?
What if she has a hard time figuring out how to navigate the cafeteria?
What if some kid (kids??!?!?) start picking on her?

What if she has problems at school that she doesn't tell me about?

What if all my fears about Kindergarten are unintentionally projected onto my child?
What if I just don't want my baby growing up?
What if I want to pause time and keep my child little forever?

Oh dear. I'm a mess.

Kindergarten.

She may be ready.

I'm not.

2011-07-23T23:33:00.001-04:00

241. Using a salon gift certificate for my first pedicure. :) I was thrilled to try this, but seeing as how I hate people touching my feet I don't think I'll be getting these often or ever!
242. The coolness of a summer shower.

243. Pictures of sisterly love.

244. A very cool day (for July) to enjoy outside play this week.
245. The girls were on the platform of the playground Friday when I overheard Julia tell Audrey, "I love you the most." She followed it with a long hug. I about cried. Adorable.

246. Matt getting to go off for a short, 2 day mission trip.
247. The extra appreciation I have for what Matt does around here that I always feel after he's been away, even if only for a couple of days.
248. Realizing that I miss Matt's company just as much today when he's gone as I did 10 years ago during our time spent apart.

249. Getting Julia to the bathroom in time... Once every 2 or 3 months Julia will wake up crying heartily. Sometimes she seems awake, sometimes not and often there is no controlling her cries. I'm not sure if this is a night terror or what, but what I do know is that if I don't remember to make her go to the bathroom during the middle of the crying - I am likely to regret it. Tonight, I remembered.
250. Audrey getting a kick out of talking about how long her hair is getting. She'll brush it with her hand and say it's like Rapunzel's.

Pictures of Eli

2011-07-21T23:16:00.006-04:00

Give our family a camera and a sweet baby boy and we can entertain ourselves for a good while!

Blessings 231- 240:

- Fun times with Cousin Eli.

- Safe travel for our many summer road trips.

- Plenty of Karen Kingsbury and Debbie Macomber books checked out from the library to entertain me during long car rides.

- Free Chick-Fil-A meals for the 4 of us on Cow Appreciation Day. I sure wish we'd taken pictures of our cow costumes!!

- Nighttime calm and quiet!

- A great worship band at church.

- Visit with Phenix City friends.

- Excitement in Julia's voice when she picked out her new lunchbox, "Look, Mommy, it has peace signs!"

- Excitement on Audrey's face as she gleefully picked out a lunchbox identical to Julia's!

- Peace in remembering God's in control of things I feel are out of control.

June

2011-07-05T19:52:00.001-04:00

Since I posted next to nothing in June, here's a rundown of events.

- Matt and I spent a week chaperoning youth camp. The girls spent a week in Jackson visiting grandparents.
- The week afterwards Matt and I celebrated anniversary #8!
- The girls and I spent a week in mid-June in TN to attend my cousin's wedding. I was also able to see my brother and sister-in-law for the first time in 14 months!!

Since I'm at a real loss for words, I'm glad I have pictures to share.

Jada's wedding cupcakes were delicious... and had sky high icing!

A must have picture of me and my brother. It better not be another 14 months before I see him again!

The Monday after the wedding VBS began at our church. Julia was asked to hold the Bible one day during the pledges. She turned and just stared at me the entire time. She also just stood onstage during the family night concert. Typically, she's a showoff onstage but said there were just too many people there this time.

Here is Audrey painting skyscrapers with some of her friends. Below that is a class picture. I taught the 2&3 year old teacher kids.

Happy Father's Day...just a little late!

2011-06-29T20:12:00.006-04:00

The girls and I were in TN Father's Day weekend. We actually traveled home that day. Therefore, for the first time ever, they were able to see both grandfather's and their Daddy on Father's Day. Poppa was even able to help us out with a gift for Matt. Julia wanted to make Matt a heart out of wood. Audrey saw the other patterns available and decided she wanted to make her Daddy an oval. What Daddy wouldn't want an oval??

Wow- a 5 year old and 3 year old using a power tool!

After sanding them down, we got to work painting. Audrey's oval turned out like an Easter egg.

Julia went with "gator" colors.

It sure would have been nice if we had remembered to take pictures of Matt with the girls on Father's Day. Note to self: take a picture of Matt and the girls ASAP!

We did, however, remember to take a picture of Pop and the girls early Father's Day morning.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

2011-05-29T14:04:00.005-04:00

I mentioned that we went to the beach this past Thursday. Here are a number of pictures I took. I've also got a few more blessings to list.

221: My children getting to enjoy a week with their grandparents
222: 2 evenings that Matt and I get to enjoy a quiet house.
223: getting to chaperone Global Youth Camp this Monday - Friday
224: not having to cook a single meal between now until Saturday!
225: the comfort brought to me by cleaning up the girls' rooms while they're away. It makes me feel closer to them.
226. more than 100 beach pictures to sort through that allowed me to see brand new pictures of my sweet, gorgeous girls!
227. hearing their voices on the phone last night
228. having a picture sent to me from our brother-in-law of the girls snuggling with their Pop and baby cousin, Eli. It does my heart good to see them having fun.
229. being home last night for Matt to help a neighbor move a mattress to her upstairs apt. Sounds silly, but she lives alone and all the other neighbors are older. I'm glad we were there to help her.
230. The excitement of hearing some awesome praise music this week. We're looking forward to it!

GIRLS, I MISS YOU!!!!!
I love these pics of them playing together. What 1 does, the other does.

211-220

2011-05-27T11:51:00.007-04:00

Blessing 211 - the public library. I think I've flown through 6 books in the past 7 days - love it!

Blessing 212 - new (free to me) kids makeup for the girls to enjoy. I love easy entertainment for these 2!

Blessing 213 - The girls doing a GREAT job sharing the above mentioned makeup this week.

Blessing 214 - Walking by and often seeing these 2 snuggled up together.

215 - Despite other expectations (of which I won't go into detail) I had a very nice last day of school last Wednesday.
216 - We also had a nice (tension free) Graduation program for the preschoolers Friday.

217 - a very willing 5 year old model

218 - a semiwilling 3 year old model (she was willing to smile but refused to actually look towards the camera)

219- cutesy shots of my girls together!

220 - beautiful weather this week to play & picnic at the pool, the park, and the beach!

Check out Julia's athletic look for the park!

Back to Blessings!

2011-05-21T15:08:00.000-04:00

201. Matt graduating last week
202. Not 1, but 2 new dresses bought FOR ME recently! They’re very cute if I do say so myself.
203. Using gift cards to purchase 2 new dresses plus some pieces for the girls (mostly Julia since Audrey has a lot of hand-me-downs) Julia asked if she could wear her favorite 2 pieces to school Monday.

I said “no” ;) She wound up wearing the shorts Monday and the shirt Wednesday.
204. A newfound water fountain in the park where I run
205. Perfect springlike days this week where the weather was brilliantly sunny, breezy, and the temp. high was 72 degrees.
206. Freshly cleaned carpets
207. Extra sleep lately for this bedhog

She's all smiles b/c of the extra sleep!

208. A fun (yet final) meeting with our current lifegroup. We grilled burgers and hotdogs, sat around a campfire, and I got some burnt marshmallows. Fabulous. Oh, and the company was great too!
209. Audrey’s look of self pride when she showed off her newfound artistic skills.

We asked, “Audrey, who taught you to draw like that?”

Audrey said, “Julia, at bedtime.”

OH! So that’s what keeps you 2 awake at nighttime!! BTW – my kids still sleep in the floor. Just in case you were wondering.

Mother's Day

2011-05-19T13:55:00.000-04:00

I realize I'm about 10 days behind on the expected Mother's Day post, and for that, I am sorry. Here's what we did:

I had some time to myself Saturday, so Matt took time on Mother’s Day to do schoolwork. The girls and I skipped naptime and went shopping instead. They were so good!! We bought some clothes at JCPenney’s and then went to Sams for a few items. I had to reward their fantastic behavior with a shared Icee.

I love my girlies!

Easter pics

2011-05-07T17:38:00.007-04:00

Bad news: Both of the free Wifi's we were using for internet at the house are no longer available. Therefore, until Mrs. Cheapo (that would be me) decides to actually pay for it at home, I'll be forced to "surf the web" much less than usual. Plus, right now I'm busy with preschool end of the year scrapbooks (each child gets a 30-40 pager to take home) so extra time at church is spent on that.

Anyways...

No blessings today b/c I'm in a hurry ;)
Instead, I'll post a few pictures that I took Easter morning of the girls. Matt and I might have headed to church in jeans, but I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to dress these 2 beautiful girls up!

I have no idea why this one won't rotate. I keep getting an error message...

New playground

2011-05-02T15:55:00.000-04:00

Friday was such a beautiful day! (blessing #191) It was warm, sunny, with a hint of a breeze. The girls and I decided that we needed to pack a picnic and take it up to the apartment's playground. When we arrived to the playground we were surprised to find brand new playground equipment! (192)

What a blessing to have a little one with alot of courage! 193! Audrey was really scaring me with her acrobatics. Go, girlie, go! She didn't have the sense to wait for me to spot her even though those monkey bars were 7.5 feet high. She'd climb to the top, take a flying leap, and I'd anxiously wait an entire 0.13 seconds hoping she actually caught the bar she was leaping towards.
What a blessing to have Julia willing and able to take photos for me! 194.

Julia on the other hand is a little more scared of hurting herself. (I consider this blessing 195. One fearless child in the family is enough for me!) When Julia finally worked up the nerve to try the monkey bars, she stood at the bottom looking up, breathed in deep, and said to herself, "Here's my chance". Wow. Can you say 'dramatic'? And all that drama led to sweet little Julia getting to the 2nd rung on the ladder before changing her mind and backing down. And when I say 2nd rung, I mean 2nd from the bottom!

What a blessing (196) to see Julia eventually conquer her fear!

What a blessing (197) to have Audrey be a willing (if not yet able) photographer!

198. Sweet smiles on command

199. Excitement as they explored the rest of the little playground. "Oooh, wow, it has a real telescope!"

200. Having a pretty day Saturday so we could go back and show Matt the new fun stuff!

TN trip - continued

2011-05-01T15:14:00.004-04:00

186. Safety during the tornado warning we had while we were there.

187. Little complaining when we woke the girls up to go downstairs to the closet during the tornado warning. Audrey happily colored. Julia whined a little, but then fell asleep and slept in the closet half the night. Check us out!

188. Fun cousin bonding time with Eli.

189. Fun cousin bonding time with Brodye.

190. Returning home to find that maintanance here had fixed a few small things while we were away.

TN trip - part 1

2011-04-30T13:34:00.003-04:00

181. 5 day trip to Jackson to visit with family.

182. sweet girlies who whined little on the drive to and from.
183. a husband who is more than willing to drive the entire car trip.
184. a birthday celebration at chuck-e-cheese. (somehow, the girls celebrated their birthdays yet again even though it was actually cousin Brodye's birthday week.)

185. Generous family whose gifts made packing our car to return home much more of a chore than it was to go up. Each girl received 3 Easter backets in TN plus alot more "stuff" - clothes, shoes, coloring books, etc.

Check back tomorrow for TN trip - part 2!

Top 10 TV

2011-04-24T17:00:00.000-04:00

Here is a list of my favorite tv shows ever. Some of them I no longer watch, but my allegiance to them was at one time high enough for them to still make the grade.
**I reserve the right to rearrance/add to/delete from this list at any time!**

10/11. Monk/My Boys - I can't decide!
9. White Collar
8. Roseanne
7. The Bozo show (I've been told I loved it - don't really remember)
6. Everybody Loves Raymond
5. Saved By The Bell
4. Friends
3. Full House
2. House M.D.

and my favorite TV show ever (at least until I change my mind)

1. American Idol

I don't even watch Idol anymore, not a single minute of this season! But there's no denying my addiction to this popular reality show from 2003 - 2009. I heart Simon!

What are your top TV shows of all time?

Happy Easter

2011-04-23T21:18:00.000-04:00

What a blessing (#171) that people from church put together a fun Easter celebration today. Another blessing (#172) is that neither Matt nor I had any responsibilities there other than to enjoy the games, food, egg hunt, etc. with our children.

I'd love to post pictures from the event, but I forgot to bring my camera with me. Actually, it wouldn't really matter if I'd brought my camera or not; you still would be seeing no pictures. Why? Because after returning Friday from our fun filled five days in TN with family (blessing 173) I've been unable to locate the cable to transfer pictures. Now, granted, I haven't actually unpacked my suitcase or any of the other bags we brought back (Hello, I've only been home 24 hours - suitcases sit around my house for alot longer than that!) so hopefully, the cable will make it's appearance soon. When it does, I'll show you the shots from our fun filled family week as well as pictures that I'm sure to take tomorrow.

174 - Julia confidently answering questions that were asked of the group during the "telling of the real Easter Story" part of the church Easter fun. My girlie knows her stuff!

175 - A cotton candy limit of 1 per person. Seriously, I needed this limit for myself. I hadn't had cotton candy in forever, and it sounded (and tasted) so good!

176 - A good Publix trip today! Spent $58.10, saved $104.43. We were out of alot of stuff, including Matt's beloved soft drinks. Instead of making a trip to Walmart, I decided to "splurge" and purchase the BOGO Pepsi's at Publix. It really wasn't that much more expensive anyways, and as I said... Matt was in need of carbonation! So, what do I see as I come upon the soft drink aisle?? Peelie, after peelie, after peelie. That's right coupons right there on the 2 liters for immediate use. I wound up getting 10 of those suckers for $.33 and $.34 each. I would have gotten more, but I was getting just the caff. free diet's (our fave of the Pepsi brand) and I didn't want to be a shelf clearer!

And that's enough of the coupon talk. I'm well aware most of you hate that!

177. crockpots - I've really gotten into using mine lately. Tonight's entree - frozen chicken breast with about half a bottle of BBQ sauce cooked on high while I went on the aforementioned grocery trip. so easy. why did it take me so long to see the fabulousness of this kitchen tool?

178. Time alone tonight to read, blog, prep for children's church, unpack (ha! -maybe), and in general enjoy the quiet of the next 2+ hours! The girls have just now fallen asleep, and Matt's up at church practicing for the service tomorrow. Yes, it is late at night. The band's practice is scheduled for 9-11 pm. 2 weeks ago it was Friday night from 10-1. I think the 30 somethings in this group are trying to relive some of their glory years. just saying

179. A safe trip to TN and back.

180. A Risen Saviour to Praise this Easter Weekend!

When I post pictures, I post pictures!

2011-04-16T14:36:00.007-04:00

161. The fun these kids have painting - we were doing preschool makeup work at home (from the day Audrey was out sick)

162. access to a swimming pool that we don't have to clean
163. nice weather that has given a chance to swim 3 times this year already

Matt was asked to send a family picture to his high school for some alumni blurb in the school's quarterly magazine. Yeah, he's a private school kid - JCM doesn't have a magazine to mail out ;) So, since we do not have a recent family photo we brought the camera to church this past Sunday. What a blessing (#164) to have a patient photographer (actually 2) that were willing to take shot after shot. Here's a sample:

Blessing 165 - cropping, zoom features that make so-so pictures look almost good! The pictures I posted are as is, but Matt said he made 1 of the dozen or so we took look pretty good.

Easter Egg Hunt at preschool!
#166 - the most perfect day, weatherwise, for outside play! So sunny and mid 70's!

You can't see it well in this picture, but Julia has a new Easter basket. One of her classmates' mom had these personalized buckets made for the class. They're just a sand pail (complete with shovel) but she had their names painted on them as well as some cutesy polka dots. Those kids were so excited! #167 - generous preschool parents

The girls and I had fun playing beauty shop yesterday. We all curled our hair and the 2 of them got into makeup. Audrey is just too cute when she asks, "Do I look beau-di-tul?" (beautiful) Let's hear it for blessing 168 - cheap, girly play beauty shop fun!

169. lots of delicious food samples at Sam's that make shopping there almost (I said almost) as enjoyable as shopping at my dear Publix
170. Having such an abundance of toys that we were able to donate some gently used toys to the church's thrift store. We most definitely could (and should) have donated much more, but we'll save that for another day.

2011-04-14T23:57:00.005-04:00

152. The start of our spring break!!!!!!!!
153. A foursome family day at home!
154. First by the pool picnic of the year.

155. Julia learning her bible verse for preschool graduation very easily. "Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Noone comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

156. Audrey doing her very best to recite Julia's graduation verse. "Jesus said, I am the way, the truth. No one comes except through me. John 14:16" She also makes sure to point to herself at "through me."

157. Audrey's insistance that she can say her class Bible verse all by herself (even though she knows Julia's verse much better than her own.) Audrey's class verse is: "Every good and perfect gift comes from up above." James 1:17

158. No tears when I refused Audrey (but not Julia) a piece of candy for dessert tonight. AKB didn't eat her dinner!
159. A mailbox with a full size product sample (Ocean Spray juice) AND a free product coupon (Bic Lighter)! I heart freebies :)
160. Matt helping me conquer a mountain of clean laundry this evening. Thanks, honey!

141-150

2011-04-09T01:09:00.000-04:00

So blessed with...

- beautiful days to go running (let's hope I take advantage of it more!)
- a husband to watch the kids while I go running
- time for pretty regular afternoon naps
- a stable childhood. Stuff might have gotten crazy at home when I was in college (wink, wink) but knowing some of the trials the preschoolers around me face, man, I've had it so easy.
- my kids growing up with a stable environment
- a friend that's willing to share alot of coupons with me
- a life with the perfect amount of "busyness" for me and my girls
- God's providence and comfort in stressful financial situations
- God's providence in other stressful sitations
- God's reminders to me of His providence

Don't start worrying about these stressful situations I've mentioned. Nothing is new for the better or for the worse. I've just had my moments lately of really being reminded how we've been taken care of from our Union days when neither of us had a full time job, to us welcoming kids and me deciding to stay home, to Matt's resignation, to our house still being on the market 11 months later. I worry, worry, worry all the time, but He always provides.

For instance... (if you've heard this before, sorry!)
When we moved last summer, I was worried about money, about not being able to afford preschool for Julia, and I was growing a little crazier every day from staying home all the time. What did God throw in my lap? (I didn't have to fill out an application or even interview - see, in my lap!) He threw me a part time job at a preschool where the girls could attend with me. I got Julia into preschool like I wanted, have been able to absorb a little of the added cost of rent+mortgage, have gotten OUT OF THE HOUSE, and was able to do it without the guilt I would have felt if I'd had to put Audrey in daycare. PROVIDENCE! I'd be remiss to also mention that one way God' provided is by blessing us with family that have always been generous with their time and gifts. (blessing 151!) We appreciate it.

It's amazing that I worry and fear so much when my day to day life is nothing short of perfect for me. 151 blessings down, 849 to go!

better late than never!

2011-04-05T23:08:00.000-04:00

131. an April full of contemporary music at church (actual contemporary music, not the typical Baptist "might have been considered contemporary in 1982" stuff)

132. seeing Matt's enjoyment in rocking along in the church praise band

133. getting to jump on stage and sing one of the songs too - I was rather excited to lead "Revelation Song"

134. I made it through the song before hoarseness started taking over. Too bad I was supposed to sing it again during the invitation. I croaked enough then to make Matt initially think I was crying. Oh well, it only got worse throughout Sunday and singing is still not an option right now!

135. Hearing both Audrey and Julia sing these worship songs. They sat in on a couple of rehearsals and enjoy singing along.

Oh, did I mention that Audrey woke up sick (coughing like crazy) late Saturday night/early Sunday morning? She did. We wound up sleeping on the couch together b/c I just couldn't get her comfortable in a bed. Neither of us slept well, and she was still coughing, but I took her to church anyways. She didn't do so well the first hour, so I wound up bringing her into the service with us. I just knew this was a bad experience waiting to happen. Both Matt and I were supposed to be onstage, and Audrey was NOT going to react well to that!

136. Blessing - Audrey fell asleep on the front row and slept throughout the first 45 minutes of the service. Yay!

137. When Audrey did wake up, she woke up in a great mood. She was also pretty quiet and I didn't have to take her out of the service.

moving on from church stuff...

138. Comforting little ones during the night. I'm typing this with a 5 year old asleep across me. Her head is on my arm. There will be no pictures this post because of her.

139. free movie monday at redbox! Matt grabbed "Life as We Know It" for me! I love chick flicks!

140. Cooler weather for a few days. I'm dreading those 100 degree days!

...still counting!

2011-03-27T22:10:00.000-04:00

Blessing 121 - another couple of beautiful picnic perfect days with my girls. We had a picnic with our preschool friends Thursday and we had one just the 3 of us Friday.

Blessing 122 - Julia recently responding "I know that, you always say that to me!" when I tell her "I love you" or "I'm glad I'm your mommy". I'm glad she knows that - I want her to always know that!

Blessing 123 - the awesome quiet that follows a long fought battle at kids' bedtime

Blessing 124 - Saturday phone calls to our parents

Blessing 125 - the joys of building block towers

Blessing 126 - Great deals at Publix!
4 16 oz boxes Ritz
6 boxes Quaker chewy bars
4 bottles Kraft BBQ sauce
2 Clorox toilet cleaners
4 Lysol wipes (80 wipe containers!)
2 Large boxes children's Quaker cereal
4 loaves bread
4 8oz. bags shredded Kraft cheese
4 bags Gortons fish (18-20 oz) - this was my splurge item! Each bag was $2.25 - eek!!!! However, I really prefer to have fuss free food around for Sunday lunches when we are in a rush to eat, rest and then head back to church. Plus, I thought some of those fish sticks might be a nice change of pace in the girls' lunches.
$50 BP gas card ($42 of which has already been used)
Total at Publix: $72.62 tax included.

I also went to Walmart, and I was in shock to hear my total there - it about equaled my Publix amount. Yowser. Oh well, we needed batteries and such and I also needed to price match some produce.

Blessing 127 - price matching at Walmart. A hassle at times, but I love it!

Blessing 128 - A 5 year old who acted as if going through my grocery bags was equal to Christmas morning. Sure, I got a good number snacks that she'd enjoy at preschool and I got her much begged for strawberry muffin mix, but seriously, who would have thought her eyes would light up for 10 minutes as she unloaded all those bags?

Blessing 129 - An unexpected gift for the girls from a neighbor. We tried this out for dessert and it was good!

Blessing 130 - A new recipe that actually tasted good. (I'm always nervous!) I used the new Philadelphia Santa Fe cooking creme to make a yummy skillet meal.

111-120

2011-03-20T01:06:00.006-04:00

Blessing 111 - That a friend from way back in middle school likes the idea of counting your blessings so much that she's decided to do it too! Yay! Glad we can together go on this journey of looking and being thankful for the wonderful things in life!

Blessing 112 - A church parking lot and playground that we can enjoy on beautiful days like today! We have a small playground at our apartments, but I certainly like the one at church better. Plus, I'm more comfortable with the girls riding their bikes in an empty parking lot than our busy apartment one.

Blessing 113 - That I didn't hurt myself when I decided to play on the playground too. ;)

Blessing 114 - That I was confident enough to post that picture AND the picture of me on a tractor earlier this week DESPITE being told by my husband that I looked like a dork! (how rude!) There was most definitely a time not long ago that worrying about what people thought of me would have prevented those pics from being taken much less posted!

Blessing 115 - Audrey asking to take a nap today. Mark the books on this one!

Blessing 116 - The excitement of our first trip to the pool this year! The water was cold, but the girls and Matt enjoyed it. I put the swimsuit on, but couldn't bring myself to get in.

Blessing 117 - Quiet time to close my eyes and lay by the pool (instead of playing with my children!) ;)

Audrey eventually got too cold and was ready to come in. When Julia returned home 20 minutes after us, Julia's lips were purple!

118 - Not having to cook dinner, not even having to reheat the leftovers that we ate. Matt did it.

119 - A new author and book series I'm smack in the middle of right now. LOVE IT! Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove.

120 - The girl's looking forward to our lifegroup get together tomorrow as much as we are. They love hanging around the older girls whose families are also in our group!

Needing to not worry

2011-03-18T02:31:00.000-04:00

I'm up late tonight (actually it's 2:45 AM) and I'm in dire need of a change of focus. I'm focusing on worries as I type this so counting my blessings is a must! I've been all dramatic humming "It Is Well With My Soul" for the last few minutes. Thinking that reading the story behind this hymn would make me cast proper light on my current worries, I googled it. Wow! I knew he wrote the hymn while at sea after losing his family in a shipwreck, but there was more than that! Horatio Spafford came to financial ruin due to the Great Chicago Fire in 1872, lost his 4 daughters to the shipwreck just 2 years later, and later lost his only son at age 4.

I worry about stupid stuff.

Let's focus on my multitude of wonderfulness! (And then perhaps I can go to sleep!)

Blessings 102-110!
I love working at the same preschool my kids attend! It's great being not just able but expected to attend their fun fieldtrips with them! Blessing 102 is getting to go with the girls and their friends to the farm Wednesday!

Similar to our first trip to this farm, Julia loved everything about it! She was very willing to feed, pet, hold, and ride whatever animal they put in front of her. Blessing 103 - seeing my sweet little one enjoy loving on animals.

Blessing 104 - getting to see my other sweet little one not always enjoy loving on animals!

Can't you just see how fabulous a mom I am? Most moms would comfort, console, and assure their child that the goats weren't going to get them.

What did I do?

Grabbed my camera for the photo op!

Mother of the Year. Right Here!

Audrey did wind up enjoying part of the trip.

Blessing 105 - the feeling of fun and sweet simplicity that came with enjoying a farm with 3, 4, and 5 year olds!

Blessing 106 - Matt's sister sending me a pic of the flowers we ordered for my mom's birthday. Amy knew I'd want to see!

Blessing 107 - the girls' laughter as they chased Matt down for not wearing enough green on St. Patrick's Day

Blessing 108 - that none of the preschool kids complained about someone pinching them today. I partly regretted having joked about the pinching thing earlier this week!

Green pudding, anyone??

Blessing 109 - Children who are discovering the many talents God has given them... even though today's newly discovered talent is licking their armpits.

Blessing 110 - Receiving our prepared tax returns in the mail! Sign and done! Thanks, mom!

Birthday Week: M-W

2011-03-11T21:56:00.000-05:00

Blessing 91. Out of school 2 days for Mardi Gras! Monday and Tuesday - no school!
Blessing 92. One of our days off happened to be Julia's Birthday!
Blessing 93. Friends to come over and help the girls celebrate their birthday week with a Pancake Playdate. (Yes, we're celebrating birthdays all week long! Monday - Saturday)

Blessing 94. Birthday wishes for Julia from family via phone.

This is Julia blowing out candles again at dinner. We stuck them in a crescent roll this time.

Blessing 95. When Matt's parents called for Julia's birthday, Danny/Pop told us he was coming down to visit the next day. We decided to keep it a secret from the girls.
Blessing 96. The fun and sneakiness of getting Julia close to the window Tuesday afternoon so she could see her surprise visitor. We had fun with the camera!

We took some cute pics near the window

Then she did a double take as she saw a familiar van pull up. I was still taking her picture and she tried so hard to smile at me, but her eyes just kept darting towards the van. She's in the middle of saying "Pop!"

Blessing 97. Audrey getting a much needed nap and consequently sleeping through Pop's arrival. I warned Pop that Audrey typically wakes up from her naps grumpy. (I didn't want him taking offense!)
Blessing 98. Audrey did NOT wake up grumpy after all. When she heard his voice she looked up.

And was so excited she fell back to sleep! Or at least pretended to.
5 minutes later, Audrey started shouting "yah, yah" over and over. I have no idea what "yah, yah" means, but the child was certainly pleased to wake up to Pop!

Blessing 98. That the tornado that came through the area Wednesday morning didn't severely hurt anyone.
Blessing 99. That Matt and Danny saw the funnel, and I didn't. I think I would have wet myself.
Blessing 100. That the girls and other preschoolers I was around had no clue what was happening! Audrey's pre-k classroom is an interior room. Julia's class joined them, and the kids were none the wiser. They were even asking, "When are we going to play outside?" Ummm, the sky is green and the clouds are rotating. Not right now!

Blessing 101. That I had my kids with me during the tornado. My worries would have increased exponentially had they been at home with Pop! I'd told them they could skip school, but Julia takes her education very seriously ;) And Audrey takes separation from me AND Julia very seriously!

3

2011-03-10T22:10:00.001-05:00

March 10 - Audrey's 3rd birthday!

We had a birthday breakfast for lunch today (I worked a couple hours this morning). The meal consisted of sopapilla, eggs, and strawberries. Since I wasn't planning on making a cake today, I decided that it would be a good idea to stick Audrey's birthday candles in the sopapilla for her to blow them out.

Guess what.

That wasn't such a good idea.

The sopapilla was fresh out of the oven when I put the candles in, and... well... the candle bottoms melted.

I was wondering why after a minute or so they started tipping over...

Candles melting in the hot sopapilla makes perfect sense - in hindsight

So, we wound up putting the candles in Audrey's eggs instead, and I got to serve delicious sopapilla that had 3 small holes in it filled with pink, yellow, and green wax. Lovely.

Birthday girl didn't care where the candles were though. She just liked us singing to her and getting to blow out the candles. She was so proud!

After opening presents...

... we surprised the girls with a trip to Kangarooz. It's a playcenter with alot of large inflatables.

A fun time was had by all. Little Miss Audrey had extra fun hiding from the camera, but I snuck a few shots in here and there.

We had an Audrey approved dinner tonight of chicken tacos and then went through the sing/candle birthday ritual again. Candle bottoms don't melt in rice krispie treats.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl! Check out old birthday pics of Audrey here

5

2011-03-07T09:48:00.009-05:00

Julia turns 5 today. Did I cry last night as we tucked "4 year old Julia" into bed for the last time? Why, yes. Yes, I did!

As most moms do, I tried my best to get a picture this morning.

She was a willing model.

For a few minutes.

Perhaps I'll try again later, but perhaps not. The girls each have a friend over right now, and we'll be having a pancake brunch before long!

Happy Birthday, dear Julia!

Check out old birthday pictures!

Blessing 81- 90

2011-03-04T08:53:00.004-05:00

My week was up yesterday, so I'm a day late with my blessings. I apologize, but I must admit that it probably won't be the last time...

I was on the playground talking to my coworker, Crystal, a week or so ago. We were talking about my girls' birthdays coming up and how I wanted to have a party that was special for them, but that I didn't want to spend a fortune on it. I had about decided to just forget the whole party thing (everything cheapish I could think of would be held outside... weather permitting! I don't like weather permitting!) when Crystal said something that just struck me. She talked about making memories for her boys and about how even simple stuff could be special. That very moment I decided that I was definitely going to host a little birthday party for the girls, and the conversation would also turn into my blessing #81!

Where's this party? Free place - the cafe at church! I gave Matt 3 dates/times that would be ok with us. It was available on my first choice. Blessing 82.

What are we going to do? Well, I had been thinking and thinking about how to entertain these youngsters. I'd already decided to nix a traditional birthday cake and instead do a sundae bar (blessing 83... the idea of a 'sundae bar' is just a blessing in itself!) While sitting at the intersection of 90 and 59 (love that detail?) I literally had a lightbulb over the head moment and realized the whole party should be ice cream themed. Blessing 84 - ice cream party idea.

I had Matt print off simple invitations at church. No, I don't feel bad printing 20 sheets on the church's very nice color printer/copier. I count it as payment for all the secretarial duties Matt had me do last weekend and has planned for this weekend. I do feel bad, though, that when he pushed the print button (it's wireless and he was in another part of the church) that the secretary was prepping to print the paychecks for the week. Our ice cream invitations were printed on top of the paychecks! Oops! So sorry! Let's count it as blessing 85 that she didn't yell at us for that! ;)

Who are we inviting? All our preschool friends and whoever winds up at church this Sunday in the girls' respective classes. I'm half afraid noone will come, but maybe that won't be the case. I sent out the preschool invites Wednesday, and Thursday when one of Audrey's friend was getting in the car she said, "Nana, don't forget we have to go to Audrey's party!" Thanks, little girl. Hearing that helped ease some of my worry about noone being able to come to the party - blessing 86.

More stuff to do...??? What about a pinata? I found these directions on line to making an ice cream cone pinata. I decided to try my hand at this craft, going so far as to make a shopping list for needed supplies. Then, though, I had a change of heart. I decided to use some of the amazon gift cards I've earned from online stuff (blessing 87 - free gift cards!) to purchase a pinata. Amazon had 2 ice cream pinatas - so I ordered the 1 that shipped free! I would have been able to cover shipping costs with my gift cards too, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay for shipping. I hate paying for shipping. Blessing 88 is free shipping on an ice cream pinata. Blessing 89 is our pinata arriving 2 days later and looking great! Blessing 90 is Julia's excited smile when I had her check it out. She's so excited for her party now!

The girls posed for this picture just this morning!

Audrey keeps saying that she's going to have Dora at her party...
And a cake too.
And we're going to watch Cinderella.

Oh, poor child! I don't plan on doing any of those things! Perhaps, her present from us can be Dora related? I still haven't gotten either of them a present to open. Shopping will be happening tomorrow!

2011-02-24T21:44:00.002-05:00

71. not living in tornado central west tn
72. a plumbers bill that only totaled $75
73. a found reimbursement check from late December that we hadn't noticed was missing
74. new tv channels since the apartment switched to directtv
75. a nice 4 days with family
76. sleeping in my bed again after family leaves
77. my stockpile of dayquil/nyquil
78. being hit by a cold rather than the flu or stomach virus that's been making its rounds.
79. lots of leftovers in the fridge so that we shouldn't have to worry about cooking while I feel bad
80. friday's with nothing to do! :)

Blessings (us with Eli)

2011-02-19T10:17:00.001-05:00

It's been 6 days since my last Blessings post! I vowed not to let a week go by... so here I go!

61. early spring days
62. outside picnics
63. goodnight kisses from Audrey that turn into makeout sessions b/c the child is doing everything she can to postpone falling asleep
64. cookie day at the apartment office every Friday
65. having family come down for a visit
66. Matt meeting our nephew, Eli!

Even Matt's willing to look silly in order to get smiles out of a baby!

67. seeing Julia so eager to hold her cousin

What a way to start the day!

68. seeing Audrey so eager to hold her cousin

She will hold him for 30 minutes at a time. Loves it!

69. lazy Saturdays with family
70. a coworker offering to work for me Monday so that I could spend a few extra hours with family - THANK YOU!

Valentine blessings

2011-02-13T10:03:00.002-05:00

Small Mess:

51. leftover Macys gift card that Matt and I used to online order our valentine's presents
52. girls who want to make valentines for their friends/teachers/family
53. a husband who is willing to sit down and help his daughters prepare their valentines
54. the gift of early valentine hearts from my girls
55. smiles when the girls see little heart love notes I've put in their lunchboxes.
56. smiles when the girls see little heart love notes that Matt's put in their lunchboxes (yes, I encouraged him to do this!)

Bigger Mess:

57. getting small candies for the girls and my preschoolers for free/nearly free
58. a special couples night at church this weekend
59. TN family that is surely(??) to forgive me despite my forgetting to ever actually mail them their handmade valentine's. I'm sorry!
60. Valentine's Day #10 spent with Matt - Wow!

Clean up time!!!

Thinking positive

2011-02-11T17:01:00.001-05:00

Let's look for the blessings that can be found even in the not so great stuff.

41. What a blessing to be able to set a good example to my kids by taking them with me (occasionally) to the gym while I run a couple of miles.

42. What a blessing to have them behave well as they exercise and watch me exercise.

43. What a blessing to be able to hold my tongue/not cry when my crazy old neighbor lady asked me if I was pregnant as I walked back from the gym with my girls... Sheesh!

44. What a blessing to have a friend respond to my text message about the crazy old lady's comments with a resounding "Curse her!" ;)

Moving on...

45. A silly blessing this week is my winning a small gift from one of the couponing websites I follow. 12 free Krispy Kremes!

46. I'm more blessed that the closest Krispy Kreme is somewhere up in Mobile and I'm not willing to drive 45 minutes for a doughnut. Calories stay away! Remember, I apparently look as if I'm with child. (btw - I'm not!)

47. Sometimes what a mother doesn't know or doesn't understand is a blessing. For instance, I was in the kitchen yesterday when Audrey came up to me smiling and said, "When I play I let Julia share." Aww, that's a good thing to do Audrey. She repeated it again but this time demonstrated it for me. The blessing of misunderstanding was gone when I realized that she actually had said, "When I play I lick Julia's chair."

48. What a blessing to run out of food at the dinner table earlier this week. That means people liked my food! Matt didn't get enough to eat, but how was I to know that Audrey would eat meat for the first time in ages and that Julia would eat thrice her usual amount?

49. What a blessing to have leftover chili in the refrigerator for a yummy (and EASY) addition to the above mentioned meal.

50. What a blessing to have all the ingredients still in my kitchen so that I can make the popular main dish again tonight. Who wants to bet that the girls won't touch it this time?

Happy Weekend!

I see Tinkerbell!

2011-02-11T07:37:00.000-05:00

We've already added some flowers and butterflies to the girls bedroom walls, but last week we added a few more. Well, I should say that Matt was actually the one that was in charge of this project. I was grocery shopping.

Both the girls received a set of Tinkerbell wall decals for Christmas (Thanks Meme/Pop!), and we're just getting around to putting them up. Although, to be fair, I've only had my Christmas decorations up and furniture put back in place a little over 2 weeks so we're really not all that behind with the decals...

Julia was very specific on where she wanted her decals to go. The light fairy was placed next to her lamp.

The garden and animal fairies were placed in the "garden" that's now growing out of her baseboard.

And, naturally, the water fairy was placed next to a picture of her at the beach. I think a future in interior decorating may be in store for her.

Blessings:
31. little girls who giggle with excitement over a few new stickers on their walls!
32. time alone to go grocery shopping
33. a bright new scarf and gloves to bundle up in
34. a new raincoat thats been much used these last few weeks!
35. a little girl who is very proud of her schoolwork

btw - the drawers are out of the dresser b/c we had to move the dresser away from the wall. The apartments are updating something cable related...

36. a routine maintanance visit (the cable stuff) that forced me to clean up the house
And while we're on the clean up subject - let's include these major blessings:
37. dishwasher
38. washing machine

39. "up daddy home days" - Matt's days off work
40.. extended family who send the girls sweet little presents. - Thanks, Vickie and Mike!

Blessings 21-30

2011-02-10T17:04:00.005-05:00

21. A sweet sister-in-law who reminds me to count my blessings...
22. Pre-k and church teachers my girls love
23. A part time job
24. Being able to bring my kids with me to my part time job
25. 4 times a week socialization that is outside of church services
26. a coteacher I enjoy working with
27. sweet little children to work with

even if they get in trouble sometimes! :)

28. Working in the same building as Matt. He loves it too. I'm sure he loves bringing forgotten gloves for the girls, printing newsletters off for me, and having us visit him (occasionally) on our way home.
28. a low stress job. This mama really doesn't handle stress well at all!
29. a library thats on the way home from church/school. free books and movies!
30. a husband who's snuggling with the girls RIGHT NOW and reading them their new library books

today's blessings

2011-02-06T16:38:00.000-05:00

11. A noisy home

12. social interaction via facebook

13. social interaction via blogger

14. quick to fix Sunday lunches (chicken nuggets, leftover mac&cheese, fruit, and "banana pudding")

15. a husband who has already made chili for dinner

16. children entertained by polly pockets

17. lots of craft supplies on hand- perfect for homemade valentines!

18. comfy robe

19. lazy Sunday afternoon

20. Audrey talking about "doing her best"

Phil. 4:6

2011-02-06T00:35:00.002-05:00

I worry about what people think of me. I worry about people misinterrpreting things I've said. I worry about offending others. I worry about why others offend me. I worry that we'll never live close to family again. I worry about my girls' watching too much TV. I worry that I don't cook enough with my children. I worry that my girls won't be close as they get older. I worry about my girls' everything! I worry about what the future holds for our family. I worry about money. I worry about health problems I don't have. I worry about getting older. I worry about our marriage (BTW, we're great! But that doesn't mean I don't still worry about it!) I worry that we'll have to retire to Phenix City because our stupid house will never sell.

I worry.

Alot.

In high school, I worried that I'd become an old maid. That worry ended when I married at age 21. Unfortunately, most of my worries don't go away. They occasionally just take a short pause for awhile while I sleep. So, I just read a quote about worry that bothers me. Perhaps you could say it makes me worry that I'm worrying too much.

"Worry is a focus on fear, which leads to tension, anxiety, anger, and exhaustion."

Focus on fear. Hmmm... I fear that people will dislike me. I fear that something bad will happen to myself and/or my family. Ok, I agree that worry focuses on fear.

Does that lead to tension, anxiety, anger, and exhaustion? I'm not too sure of the difference between tension and anxiety, but I would agree wholeheartedly that I'm prone to anxiousness. I would also agree that the anxiety I feel leads to anger and then exhaustion... mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion!

Now, what to do about it...

Any suggestions?

I could talk to a therapist (don't think Matt hasn't made that suggestion before!)

I could write my worries down. Theoretically, I believe this is supposed to make them seem a little less daunting. I think it would just make me worry more.

What I'm going to do is take a note from other blogs I've seen. Let's call it a belated New Year's Resolution if you will. I'm going to list 1,000 blessings. I'm going to write NO LESS than 10 blessings a week for however long it takes me to reach 1,000. Instead of focusing on the negative like I'm so prone to do, I'm going to take a few moments a week to publicly proclaim the positive!

Here we go... my blessings (in no particular order!)
1) seeing Julia's look of pride when she does something considered "big"
2) lots of Audrey hugs and kisses at bedtime
3) a husband who does all our family's ironing
4) "Everybody Loves Raymond" reruns to enjoy
5) time alone to hit the treadmill
6) gift cards for macys.com
7) a freezer, refrigerator, and pantry that are STUFFED FULL
8) electric blanket
9) little girls that still crawl in the bed at some point every night for comfort and snuggles
10) a king size bed

Hello, Dentist!

2011-02-04T07:57:00.006-05:00

The American Dental Association website states "It is advantageous for the first visit to occur within six months of eruption of the first tooth and no later than 12 months of age"

Umm, yeah. I didn't follow that recommendation. Julia will be 5 years old next month (oh, the tears) and she just had her first trip to the Dentist yesterday. I had noticed a spot on both of her upper back molars and had to get them checked out. Since I had a coupon (yes - this coupon mama even has a coupon for the dentist!) I took her to get an exam and x-ray... for free.

Is it weird for me to admit that before her visit I was extremely nervous? I kind of felt like if my fears of her having cavities were confirmed then that meant I was a bad mother. I was scared that they'd take her x-rays, discover that she had like... 8 cavities, and instantly turn at me with glaring looks of disdain.

Yeah, I wasn't looking forward to the visit.

Fortunately, the moment we stepped inside I caught sight of a familiar face. One of the ladies at the front desk turned out to be someone from my Sunday School class. Wonderful! She took our paperwork and soon brought Julia a little gift bag that included toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a t-shirt.

When we were called back, Julia did great. She was very willing to do whatever was asked of her. The only look of apprehension I saw on her came as the Dentist moved her chair to where Jules was laying all the way back and very close to the floor. I think she felt rather overwhelmed with having 2 adults (dentist and asst) looming over her like that, but her smile returned quickly when Dr. Dentist said, "Ooooh, do you have princess teeth?" She thought that comment was giggle worthy, and was very willing to let him poke around in her mouth. Great job, Julia!

Unfortunately, my fears (not the overly dramatic ones) were confirmed. Those back 2 molars are beginning cavities. :( We were referred to a pediatric dentist, and I don't have a coupon for that!

Woohoo for a sick day!

2011-01-25T20:54:00.000-05:00

Audrey was brought into my classroom late this morning because she had a slight fever again. The girls and I left preschool soon after, but after her nap Audrey was acting just fine. She and Julia spent the afternoon playing and the only "sickness" I noticed was her getting tired earlier than usual this evening. Despite her feeling fine, the pre-k has a rule, "NO fever within the past 24 hours", so (since the pre-k people were the ones that noticed her "fever") I am required to stay home with Audrey tomorrow too! HA!

I've got a cold as well, so a lazy day at home is perfectly ok with me. We'll need extra rest and plenty of liquids. So, if you need the two of us, we'll be lounging on the couch watching a movie (probably The Little Mermaid) and drinking some Crystal Light pink lemonade. Sounds fabulous doesn't it?! The laziness plus the fact that preschool stuff was really ticking me off Monday (adult stuff, the kids at pre-k are great!) and you can assure yourself that I am going to enjoy my sick day!

Nate

2011-01-23T23:16:00.002-05:00

Please pray for this little fellow! His name is Nate, and he's the son/grandson of friends of ours from church. Nate was born Wednesday, January 19th, but he wasn't due until late April! He's doing pretty well though. Nate's mom facebooked this evening that she was allowed to hold him for the first time and change his diaper today. What a moment that must have been for her. Here's a copy/paste from her facebook:

Nate's doing good, still on CPAP with 24% oxygen, had 1 heart rate drop last night but they were able to stimulate him and then he was fine. His blood GAS tests look good. He was stable enough through the night, so they were able to weigh him for the first time since he was born. He is now 1lb 15oz. He's lost some weight, but it was expected. He is a very busy strong little boy...he has pulled his IV out and also pulled out his CPAP 4 times. He's showing his strength (like his daddy) and steadily improving! Praise God!!!!!!

Sick little one

2011-01-23T10:33:00.002-05:00

Audrey wasn't feeling good last night. I hope I didn't make her sick by taking the girls to the park yesterday afternoon. (We mothers tend to blame ourselves, don't we?) She zoned out on the couch from 3:00 - 5:00. Then she fell asleep on the couch and slept right through dinner. Finally, I decided to give her a little medicine. She fought, fought, fought taking that cherry flavored junk but some definitely got in her system. 30 minutes after I forced the medicine down her throat she started perking up. She even felt well enough to play a computer game for a few minutes.

...and because I can't take a picture of 1 daughter without taking a picture of the other...

I'm very thankful that Miss Audrey felt a good bit better those last minutes before bed. It was nice to share a few giggles with her. She even went overboard on her goodnight kisses. I received a kiss on my forehead, my left cheek, my right cheek, my nose, my chin, and my mouth. So sweet. I'm also very thankful that Miss Julia was extra good tonight while Matt and I focused more on Audrey. Granted, Julia was playing games on the computer (her new fave activity) but she was good nonetheless.

Audrey was very warm again when we went to bed around 11:30, but she woke up around 2:30 AM asking for something to eat (she missed dinner, remember?) After snacking on half a banana and some cheese crackers, Audrey turned very giggily for awhile. This morning she was pretty much back to normal, but we still stayed home from church.

I'm back...

2011-01-22T21:14:00.000-05:00

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. This is only my 3rd post this year! However, I've got a few posts ready to go for the next few days so check back soon!

Guess what I did today. No real guesses?

I ran 4.5 miles.

Yes, you read that right. But just so you can read it again (and so that I can very excitedly type it again)...

I ran 4.5 miles today!

Woohoo! Yay me! Take that 2-9!

2-9?

2...9?

29?

Oh, yeah - did I mention that yesterday was my birthday? I now have less than 1 year to enjoy calling myself a twentysomething. Thank you, Matt, for pointing that out the moment my eyes opened yesterday morning...

Julia requested that I receive flowers. So, Matt picked up these pink tulips for her to give me. Thanks, little one!

Matt also made dinner and dessert for us. Dessert wound up being 'smore brownies and ice cream. Yum!

And you know what? Splurging on that fabulous dessert was just a-ok because...

I ran 4.5 miles today!

This & That

2011-01-14T21:46:00.001-05:00

* I finished taking our Christmas tree down Wednesday. Hooray for me for keeping it up 7 weeks 5 days. I think it's a personal record. I completely forgot about the small tree in Julia's room and the stockings. All those are still up. Tomorrow... I'll put it up tomorrow, I'm sure!

* I'm really loving my recent BOGO+coupon purchase of Ocean Spray Diet Blueberry Pomegranate juice. Delicious! Who knew?

* While brushing Julia's hair Tuesday night, I realized that she'd lost a piece of gum in there hours before! The gum was all mangled in a big glob *but* it was towards the ends of her hair so out came the scissors! Only about an inch had to be cut off, and she needed a haircut anyways.

* The same night as Julia's haircut, Audrey fell asleep at the dining table. The napless child was carted to her bedroom and put to bed before 7pm. Technically, she was put to floor since that's where both my children still insist on sleeping.

* We wrote on dry erase boards yesterday morning at preschool. Many of the children practiced writing their names and various letters. One of those children (not Julia or Audrey) wound up with a board that looked like this:

I'm very confident that this was just an unfortunate arrangement of random letters.

* Also, at preschool yesterday, we played musical chairs. After a few practice rounds, the first game got going, but my poor little Audrey was the very first one out. She was so sad! :( Tears were shed, but she calmed down when I put her in charge of "stamping" the kids as they got out (it prevented all tears except for Audrey's) Anyways, the 2nd time we played Audrey knew what she was doing a little bit better. In fact, 2 year-old Audrey defeated those 3's, 4's, and 5's and WON our game of musical chairs. Go Audrey!!! She was thrilled. Take 'em Audrey Kate! She was so proud of herself! It was just adorable. Julia came in 2nd and 3rd during our 2 games. Jules did not like being beat by her little sister.

Pictures of the girls painting at preschool:

Enjoy your long weekend everyone! We've got birthday parties on our calendar this weekend. I'll be sure to bring my camera and let you join in our fun via blog pictures soon!

New Year, New Life!

2011-01-07T20:39:00.001-05:00

Elijah William DuBose - 1/1/11

This is our nephew/cousin, Eli! Isn't he just adorable?!?!

Big brother, Brodye, was very protective of Eli. He kept insisting that flashes from cameras were hurting the baby's eyes, so big brother had the tendency to do this...

Julia jumped at every chance she had to hold her little cousin. Once, Uncle Jacob let her hold the baby while she was standing up. Jacob's hands were nearby, but here is Julia holding Eli all by herself - no couch, no cushions, no lap - just her and a 3 day old! Scared me so much! (I bet it scared Eli's mommy too!)

Special note #1 - Audrey was with us this trip, but she only held little Eli one time. I did not have my camera right on me when she did this. I hope someone else took a picture of her!

Special note #2 - I purposefully left Eli's mom, formerly known as Aunt Amy, out of this blog because she steered clear of cameras most of the week. I wasn't sure which of the few photos that were taken she'd allow me to put on here!

Matt's extended side of the family welcomed another little one just a few days later! Adele Claire Coplin was born 1/5/11. (She's Matt's 1st cousin once removed - yes, I confirmed the relation on wikipedia!) Adele was born 6 weeks early and is currently in NICU. Pray for her little lungs to strengthen and for her parents, Luke and Lindsey, to get some rest.

Christmas laughs

2010-12-28T21:11:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more pictures that I have on my camera that just make me laugh. The pictures themselves might not be so funny, but the memories of that moment are definitely chuckle worthy.

Audrey helped Tinkerbell make herself at home in our new dollhouse.

Julia received a little makeup from Santa. Here she is trying it out... and then watching warily while Audrey tries it out too. She'd definitely prefer not to share sometimes!

This one isn't a terribly funny, but here's a picture of some of the wall decals that Julia received. (Santa heard Julia's comments that her plain colored room was 'boring' and 'not pretty' but knew that painting an apartment wall wasn't something Mom and Dad cared to do.) After decorating 2 walls, Julia graciously allowed Audrey to use some. Jules also has moved back into her own room now that it's "pretty". (She's been sleeping in the floor of Audrey's room for 2+ weeks.) Audrey is still sleeping in the floor of her room. Whatever.

Only one of the items Matt bought me passed my inspection. (I have issues and issues) Here I am posing with that shirt, but looking at it makes me feel kind of like a fool.

Christmas morning

2010-12-27T22:39:00.006-05:00

Christmas morning - 12:45 AM

Julia comes walking in our bedroom where we are about to go to sleep. She snuggles in with us (yes, we're THOSE parents who allow our children to sleep in our bed) and after giggling with her for a few minutes we finally all closed our eyes. As she's drifting off she mumbles...

"What about my dollhouse?"

"Umm, huh??"

"My dollhouse...

"What dollhouse. You don't have a dollhouse."
"My dollhouse in the living room"
"What???" - Matt and I jump up and run to check it out. Julia doesn't bother to follow.

Like last year, Julia saw her presents from Santa and then immediately went back to sleep. I'm glad she was so excited... or not.

Anyways - Audrey woke up first as usual. (6:50 AM in case you want to know) Her tendency is to crawl out of our bed, walk into the hallway, and then start yelling "Mommy, get out of bed. Make me breakfast!" Yes, she has some really bad manners and this Christmas morn was no different than usual.

Except it was different. I actually got out of bed at the first holler. I then met up with her and said, "Do you want to go see if Santa left you any toys in the living room?" She had obviously forgotten b/c she responded with a sharp gasp and wide eyes. Her facial expression read, "oh yeah!"

Here are a few pictures from our morning.

We munched on sausage balls while we opened presents. (That's become our tradition. It feels wonderful to start our own traditions, but at the same time makes me feel OLD!) We then had a breakfast of sopapilla cheesecake, eggs, and fruit. Since Jesus is the "reason for the season" we gave the girls candles in the sopapilla to blow out after we sang "Happy Birthday."

I absolutely loved having a relaxing, slowpaced Christmas morning at home, but we definitely missed our families like crazy and spent a good bit of time Christmas day on the phone! The girls and I are looking forward to visiting TN soon!

Christmas Eve pictures

2010-12-25T15:18:00.007-05:00

Here the girls are posing with the cookies/milk we left for Santa and the carrots we left for the reindeer. We also sprinkled reindeer food (dry oatmeal and glitter) outside on the lawn and placed a special key on the front door since we have no chimney this year.

Then I sent the girls to put on a different pair of pajamas (we'd been lounging around all day). I was hoping to get Audrey in an adorable (albeit handmedown) JOY Christmas gown. Instead of wearing pajamas that actually fit, though, the girls decided to wear last years Christmas pajamas so that they could match! Note to self: buy matching Xmas pj's this week for next year - hopefully they'll still be ok with matching 12 months from now!

These girls were so excited!

See last year's Xmas Eve photo shoot here. My, my these girls have changed!

2010-12-24T22:10:00.002-05:00

O Christmas Tree

2010-12-24T12:51:00.000-05:00

We've added a few ornaments to our tree this year! I just thought I'd share them with you. :)

Julia's S.S. teachers gave her this one.

I ordered these (at a great price of course).

One of my preschoolers gave me this monogrammed ornament - cute!

The girls are big fans of Tinkerbell!

And, of course, we've added a few homemade ornaments. Here are just a few.

Our tree

Pictures, just pictures

2010-12-23T19:06:00.000-05:00

Package in the mail

2010-12-23T00:54:00.002-05:00

My Grandmother mailed the girls a present this week since we aren't going to be able to see her over the holidays. She's been working on these blankets for awhile! Thank you!

Elf on the Shelf

2010-12-22T00:35:00.005-05:00

One of Santa's Helpers has been hanging around our house lately. We've named him Elfie, and every night he reports to Santa who in the house has been naughty or nice. He then flies back to our home and finds a new spot to sit and watch. (Well, he finds a new spot almost every night. Once or twice our elf has been lazy and stayed in the same place!)

The girls have gotten more and more into Elfie the closer it has gotten to Christmas. Here was Elfie in his spot yesterday and today.

2010-12-20T10:54:00.000-05:00

Julia started sleeping on the floor of Audrey's room a week ago. It didn't take long for Audrey to join in on the fun. They talk and talk instead of falling right to sleep, but it's Christmas break. Who cares?

Aren't they so cute holding hands? Sweet girls...

2010-12-19T13:12:00.001-05:00

Doesn't Matt look absolutely great sitting here holding a baby boy?? This little one reaching for Matt and smiling at him definitely pulled at my baby boy heartstrings! Too bad the only way Matt would agree to a 3rd child is if God decided for him! ;) It's also too bad that I live 7.5 hours away from our nephew that will be here in just a couple of weeks!

Posing for pictures!

2010-12-18T11:22:00.000-05:00

The Bowman family had to pose for a few pictures this past Sunday evening. Other than me not bothering to do my hair (so typical) we were looking pretty cute!
This is the worse of the 2 foursome pics we took. For some reason, though, the computer wouldn't let me rotate the other.

I can't dress myself

2010-12-17T10:43:00.000-05:00

I have a love/hate relationship with getting clothes for Christmas. I absolutely hate getting clothes as a present because just a small percentage of the clothes I receive actually fit. An even smaller percentage of the clothes that fit are articles that I also feel comfortable wearing. I wind up feeling extremely sad and frustrated by the time I've tried everything on (and returned the majority of the items.)

The other half of me loves receiving clothes as presents because I hate shopping. Too many clothing choices overwhelms me, and I tend to just walk around stores with a dumbfounded look on my face. I've said on more than one occasion that I need a personal shopper. Seriously.

Whether I love it or hate it, I will be receiving (and have already received) some new articles of clothing this month. The generosity of others who take the time to shop for me is much appreciated since it helps keep me from leaving the house looking like... this.

2010-12-16T22:55:00.002-05:00

A few pictures from the Christmas program

2010-12-16T10:23:00.003-05:00

Here's a short video from the girls' Christmas program yesterday. Perhaps I'm biased, but I think Julia and Audrey are the prettiest little sheep in the whole flock! BTW - Audrey flat out refused to wear her sheep ears.

How the girls spent this weekend...

2010-12-12T12:14:00.000-05:00

A) wrestling

2) shirts off (are my kids the only ones that do this frequently?)

D) with my mom, Mammy, thinking most anything they do is cute (what is it with grandparents??)

Pajama Day & Santa!

2010-12-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry for a couple of cloudy pics. I cleaned the lens after the class shot of Julia's, but none of the subsequent pics had her posing quite as good as that first time! As for Audrey's Santa picture, I had to take a picture of a picture.

Audrey on right

Julia - 3rd from left

2010-12-11T16:01:00.003-05:00

Sleeping Beauty in her princess attire

I did it!!!

2010-12-04T12:13:00.007-05:00

I have officially run a 5k! Go me! I was slow, but I'm still proud of being able to run (jog) the entire time. My 38:21 time makes me even happier when I think of the good sized hill I had to jog up! If it wasn't for a friend of mine running right next to me during that mile uphill, I'm pretty sure this treadmill lady would have walked! Thank goodness I didn't. My goal was to run it, and I accomplished that. Next time, I can worry with bettering my time!

Matt and the girls were there at the finish line with "Go Mommy Go!" signs. It was great to have them there. Afterwards we hung out, ate a little, saw Santa, and played on the playground until the official race times were posted.

Today's weather was perfect, I had some friends to encourage me beforehand/during the race, I actually finished the race, and my family was there to celebrate with me afterward! What a great morning! I even have little jingle bells still on my shoes! :)

These are the only 2 pictures I have so far from today. I'm having to wait on pics from the actual race. I'll post those as soon as possible!

Modeling my racing attire.

Modeling my new 5k t-shirt! (that's way too large!)

Beware

2010-12-03T21:12:00.002-05:00

Today has not been a good day. The most frustrating/upsetting part of the story is that our house (yes HOUSE, not apartment) has an apparent leak somewhere.

Since I deal so well with stress and worry, please assure yourself that I did NOT cry at all about this situation today.

No crying at all.

At all.

Still don't believe me? Well, good. Because of course I cried. I cry over everything.

Anyways, if you happen to call or email me tonight, be careful. I will either cry my eyes out while talking to you or bite your head off.

baby shower fun

2010-11-28T23:45:00.003-05:00

Aunt Amy had a baby shower while we were in TN for Thanksgiving. The girls and I were thrilled to go!

Finally, a picture of the mommy-to-be!

Forget dip, my kid is happy with plain, simple toast. I think she had 7 slices - seriously.

Just gorgeous!

2010-11-21T15:11:00.004-05:00

Audrey picked out an extra gorgeous dress to wear to church today. It's a hand-me-down from Julia (shock, shock) but Audrey didn't care. All she knew was that when she was finished dressing today she... looked... good. Audrey had none of her usual arguments about wearing a hairbow, and she pranced (PRANCED) into the room to show off her good looks to her Daddy. Pictures were a must. I tried to take some outside, but it was just too sunny.

Pictures from the shade really weren't much better.

Both my girls looked extra sassy and beautiful this morning!

2010-11-20T15:16:00.007-05:00

Around here...
* Our rocking horse, Petey, stays in the hallway most all the time now. Audrey whines every night that Petey "scares" her, and I'm tired of moving it back and forth. Doesn't Petey look pretty with his hairbows?

* "Hey girls, let's take a picture of you for the blog."

* Happy Birthday, Matt! We couldn't sit down for lunch or dinner Wednesday together, but we did manage to have birthday strudel for breakfast.

* What do we have planned for tonight??
It's Christmas tree time!!

Commitment on a bad day...

2010-11-14T23:47:00.004-05:00

A bad running day that is! My day started off pretty good. I took the slowpoke way to get myself and the girls ready this morning and still somehow managed to get to Sunday School on time. Church was followed by having lunch at a friend's house. Matt and I enjoyed time talking to adults (the wife is Audrey's preschool teacher, Mrs. Grace) and my girls loved playing with their 4 year old and 8? year old daughters. I was also pleased to realize this afternoon that I would be skipping my second FULL DAY of real cooking. (Matt cooked breakfast and dinner Saturday, Grace cooked lunch Sunday, and dinner Sunday was leftovers) Yes, my day was actually quite good.

The bad part of the day was the running part. I exercise on a treadmill by myself Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sundays, though, I exercise with a group of ladies at church. Our goal time today was 28 minutes, and since I'd done 27 minutes Thursday, I wasn't too worried about 28. I should have been. I don't wear a watch when I jog, but I'd guess that around minute 7 or so I took a turn for the worse, and the rest of my running time was spent forcing myself to take another step. It was not fun, AT ALL! But I did it. In fact, I ran longer than 27 minutes. We had run down the street to another church, I forced myself to run the entire way back even though my time wound up being 31/32 minutes. I did find out that our mileage was 2.5 though. That's not as bad as I thought I was doing.

As a natural born worrier and list maker, and as a lady with 30+ minutes to think about whatnot this afternoon, I composed a list of potential reasons I had a bad running day.

Perhaps my problem was that I didn't have the time and mileage right there in front of me to give me a needed boost.
Perhaps my problem was that I was running on pavement instead of a treadmill.
Perhaps my problem was that I didn't have a TV to watch while I was running.
Perhaps my problem was that I decided to chew gum while running. (Stupid, I know - but I thought it so figured I ought to admit it.)
Perhaps my problem was that I hadn't drunk enough water lately.
Perhaps my problem was that my body has been busy fighting this cold I have and therfore I have less energy to devote to activity.

The list in my head went on and on, but you get the idea.

Anyways, throughout my bad running today I really doubted whether or not I could do this 5k next month. I thought about how much better and more confident I would be if I waited and ran one of the 5k's coming up in Feb. or March. BUT! I got home and decided that I didn't want to think that way anymore. I went ahead and signed up (i.e. paid money) for the Jingle Bell 5k Run - December 4th! YAY! Go me! And for those of you wondering, yes I had a hard time parting with the money (the frugalista in me is one powerful lady!) but I think it's worth it to participate in something that I never thought I'd be able to do. I also like that it's going to a charity (Arthritis Foundation), and that I'll get a t-shirt. ;)

Oh, and Matthew/Matt/Dear Husband, when I complete this thing in 20 days (oh cripes!) you're going to have to eat your "You'll never run a 5k" statement that you made around week 4. I haven't forgotten it.

A lovely afternoon

2010-11-13T17:26:00.006-05:00

Matt's in the kitchen making chili.

The girls have a friend over.

I'm on the couch reading, facebooking, and researching present ideas for Christmas. :)

Yes, it's been a very lovely afternoon at the Bowman house.