Boots go perfectly with a dress.
They protect your feet. 
When you wear them that is.
They help you climb trees.
And they make a great bucket for filling with sand when the other 5 buckets around you just won't do.OK, I realize I have been really behind in keeping up with our doings. I keep making a note of things in my head...and then my lack of brain power causes those things to be lost, possibly forever. Maybe I should carry a little notebook around with me to jot things down. But then again, writing is very hard to do, when you are constantly carrying a baby around and he seems to think that everything his mom touches ought to go in his mouth. Hmm...what to do? Maybe I'll figure it out one of these days.
In the meantime, I will tell you about a not me moment from a couple weeks ago and one from last night. Maybe I will remember more next week...I can hope, can't I?
I most certainly would never allow my toddler to eat only french fries, fruit loops and goldfish for dinner because of my lack of foresight when I planned a trip to the grocery store AFTER staying at the pool until it closed at 6pm.
I did not laugh as my daughter ran from the bathroom to her bedroom, with a bare hiney and her Daddy chasing her to get a diaper on her last night. (Although if I did, my plea would be that it was just so cute!)
And I did not fall asleep in my daughter's bed not once but twice last night. Nope, never. Not me. My children know how to fall asleep, stay asleep and/or put themselves back to sleep on their own and I always fall asleep in my own bed. HA! (Just for the record...my almost nine month old still doesn't know how to put himself to sleep...sigh...)
Head on over to MckMama's blog to see what everyone else has not been up to this week. I'm sure you will find something to chuckle about :)
Here's a news flash for you...I am not perfect. And I had to tell Samantha that last night after I put her to bed.
You see, I lost patience with her after she kept talking in bed and woke her brother up and then kept talking and talking and talking. I yelled at her to not say another word.
Brent came in the room and took over with her as I tried to get Jacob back to sleep.
A little while later, I went back into her room, where she was still talking and singing, and told her that I owe her an apology. I said that I got too angry when she was talking and woke her brother up, but that I shouldn't have yelled at her. She nodded at me and said yes.
I said that even mommies make mistakes. She said yes. And then she added "But not Daddy." I grinned and told her that yes, Daddy makes mistakes, too. I added that no one is perfect except God, so everyone except God makes mistakes.
She said "Aunt Kassie and Benjin and Jesus, too." I grinned again and said that Aunt Kathy and Benjin also make mistakes, but that Jesus is perfect just like God, so he doesn't make mistakes. I said that since no one else is perfect and we all make mistakes, we have to ask for forgiveness when we mess up. She nodded.
I asked her to forgive me, and she gently touched my face and hair and said yes and smiled at me.
Samantha is obsessed with "why" questions lately. So as I was working on some stuff this weekend, I was not surprised at all to hear her asking me "Why?"
Over and over and over.
When I had just about exhausted all the answers I could think of, I finally said "So Daddy doesn't have a cow."
That stopped the whys immediately.
Instead she moved on to the following:
"Daddy has a cow?"
"No, he doesn't, and we don't want him to have one."
"Daddy wants a cow?"
"No he doesn't and we don't want him to."
This kept going for a little while until she finally ended with "I ask God for cow."
How can you help but laugh?
an amazing woman left this earth to be with Jesus, her 29 year battle with cancer finally finished.
A mutual friend introduced the following song to us as a dedication to Sheryl just a few days before her death. I still cry every time I hear it; but I am so grateful for the truth and hope of which this song also reminds us.
As the one year anniversary of Sheryl's death has approached, I have been thinking of her more and more. So many little things make me think of her each day. And every month when I celebrate one more month of my son, I miss one more month of my friend. I wish that she were here to celebrate each month with us. I wish that I could just call her and hear her sweet voice again. I wish that Mark didn't have to face another day without her...every single day. I wish that she and Mark had been able to grow old together. I wish that they could have watched "The Notebook" without being jealous of knowing that they would not have the opportunity to grow old together.
Sheryl was an amazing person. She was great at rejoicing with her friends. She was amazingly courageous. She had a great attitude. She had an incredible way of looking at things. She was always thinking about other people and taking care of them. She loved babies and children and longed for her own. But she was not bitter and was rarely discouraged. Instead she kept celebrating life and living it to the fullest. She always kept up her hope.
A couple nights ago, I was flipping through a couple of catalogs and found the following...one on a picture and one on a bracelet, each in two different catalogs. I saw several other things that spoke directly to me about Sheryl, but these were the best,so I decided to share them with you.
"Broken Chain"
We little knew that morning that God was going to call your name. In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same. It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone; for part of us went with you, the day God called you home. You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide; and though we cannot see you, you are always at our side. Our friendship chain is broken, and nothing seems the same; but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again.
"What Cancer Cannot Do...It cannot invade the soul, suppress memories, kill friendship, destroy peace, conquer the spirit, shatter hope, cripple love, corrode faith, steal eternal life, silence courage."
I miss you, Sheryl. Mark, you remain in my thoughts and prayers.
Since moving to a very small town...well, actually since moving to the country, outside of a very small town, I have had to do a lot more cooking. Had to? Well no, actually, we could go eat at Chicken Express or have hamburgers every day. Oh, and a Mexican food restaurant just opened, so there are a few choices of ready made food in town.
BUT, it would get old very quickly to eat at the same restaurants all the time, and it would also break the bank very quickly since we went from two paychecks to one. Besides that, I do like to cook, and since I am home during the day, I am able to cook now. I have decided that the crockpot is a brilliant invention and use it several times a week. The best part is that our big crockpot is programmable, so I don't even have to be at home when it is time to switch from cooking to keeping the food warm. The crockpot does that on it's own. Now if only I could find a programmable 3 quart crockpot...then we'd really be in business.
So I've been looking for recipes, and I found the Taste of Home Casseroles, Slow Cooker and Soups, before we left Dallas. It has lots of yummy stuff, and for the most part, there isn't a lot of prep time involved. Perfect!
I also love baking...always have, but with the no dairy and no egg thing, most baking was out. Until I found this website that is. It is The Food Allergy Mama. She makes all kinds of yummy baked goods that are dairy, egg and nut free for her kids because she didn't want food allergies to make them miss out on things. She has a cookbook and also shares many recipes on her blog. Everything I have made has been great!
I will be sharing some of what I have made with you in the future. But I am also working on changing things a little bit. For example, I have made her chocolate banana bread before and we all absolutely love it. But yesterday when I made it, I started using whole wheat flour. I will have to play with the recipe a little more to get it just right, but when I do, I will tell you all about it.
Since I am getting brave enough to start changing some things, I may try some traditional recipes, too, and just modify with liquids to replace eggs and almond milk rather than milk. We'll see what I can come up with. And whatever turns out well, I will share with you :)
I meant to get back to you on Friday...but obviously that didn't happen. So now I am here to tell you that in the last picture (which I apparantly should have cropped a little more since all 3 guesses were just about correct) Jacob had pulled himself up on the couch, took a small step or two along the couch, and was smiling big time at his sister.
Can you guess what Jacob is doing and smiling so much about in this picture?
Leave a guess and then tune in later and I will tell you who is right :)
We are starting to get settled in our new town, and the kids and I have started venturing out a couple times a week rather than just staying at home all the time. No, we aren't finished getting everything settled in our temporary home, but for my sanity, I need people.
At church, we found out that the minister and his wife have a daughter who is about 6 months younger than Samantha and a son who is 6 months (exactly...to the day) younger than Jacob. At the swimming pool we met a lady with twins who are a month younger than Samantha. And she told us that they were having a playgroup after storytime at the library. So we invited our new friends from church. The other lady wasn't there, so we just went to the park together after storytime...and we all had a good time. Everyone at the church is very welcoming, and we have been invited to several things. I am so glad to be so welcomed.
We have gone to the pool several times, partly to have fun, and partly to meet new people. And sometimes we do get to meet new people, but sometimes, there are no other adults there. The pool will only be open through next Friday, so I will have to find a new place to go to meet people...and start making our new town feel more like home.
In the meantime, I am very grateful for the new friends we have made.
We left San Antonio on Saturday morning and stopped at Dave's parents house on our way home. I thought we would visit for a couple hours, then leave in the early afternoon, right around naptime, so that Samantha and Jacob would sleep for at least a good portion of the trip. I knew that it was Zoey's birthday, and I knew that they were having a party. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal, though, because I figured we would be gone before the party started in the afternoon.
I was wrong. About when the party was, that is. It was set to start about 10 minutes after we arrived. Ooops! Yes, we crashed a 2 year old's birthday party...and didn't even bring a card, much less a present! This was the first birthday party Samnatha attended...and she had a VERY hard time sitting down and letting Zoey open her own presents. She did manage it with a little help from Aunt Staci, though.
Everyone was so sweet, even though we crashed the party. They completely welcomed us and didn't mind us being there at all. They also took turns watching Jacob. And Uncle Dave took Samantha swimming just before we left. I wouldn't even know this family if my sister-in-law weren't married to their son, and yet, they treat me as warmly as if we are also related. Thank you, Williams clan! And Happy Birthday, Zoey!
We ended our time with Benjamin at the Hyatt Place in San Antonio. Jacob enjoyed his sink bath and Samantha thought everything was great. She got to sleep on the sleeper couch with Benjamin, swim in the pool with Aunt Kathy and most importantly...ride on a luggage carrier. When we were leaving, she kept asking me why we had to leave. Of course, she asks me why about everything lately, so maybe it was just more of that rather than not wanting to leave.
