Shhhh...

Baby's sleeping! Girls are at preschool, hubby is on vacation gone for the week in Yoder (yes, yoder)for job training and this momma is having a FEW minutes of Q. U. I. E. T. time. I say FEW because that precious little boy of mine that is napping right now does not like to nap. I'm lucky if I get 30 minutes out of him. Funny when I'm at work he'll sleep 2-3 hours, but not when momma is home. Fingers crossed he gives me an hour. And look, I'm here with you blogging! Do you feel special? You should! Instead of facebooking (ok thats a lie, I'm facebook and blogging), or making flowers (like I should be), or sitting on the couch watching hurricane ISAAC updates (thats on in the background), or listening to my focus on the family podcast (thats next on the list if little tarzan in there gives me an hour) I'm sitting here with Y.O.U! Tarzan is supposed to be getting shots right about now but he's just not feeling good and I just can't make him feel worse. Plus Dad will be home for our new shot appointment and HE can take lil man. This momma does not do shots unless I HAVE to!

Anyhow as I said dear husband is in Yoder. He's doing some combative training for work so he can come back and train the other correction officers. Pretty fancy huh?! I'm pretty proud of him! Although the text I just received said he should have remembered icy hot and tylenol so I'm thinking the "old age" (he's 2 years YOUNGER than me) is catching up with him today. I like to say he's on vacation. His SECOND for the year! A few months ago he went to florida for a WEEK. A WEEK! By himself. No kids, no wife, by himself. Not fair I don't think. Although I'm not sure I could leave for a week just yet. Nursing is still under way with Tarzan and last weekend hubby tried to have his sister watch the kids over night and I flew off the handle politley declined having Hunter stay overnight. Right before hubby left for florida I asked him when my WEEK LONG KID FREE vacation was gonna happen and he looked at me and said "you're on vacation everyday"....Hubby thought he was being funny...me?  not so much!

Anyhow (again), just incase you wondered what ever would I do with MY week while hubby is on vacation training it looks a little something like this

 

Since daddy is gone Uncle Goggin is filling in on the babysitting part which mean lots of cuddle time for him and the kids. They sure do love him! He's an amazing uncle, especially for an 18 (almost 19) year old "kid".

 

 

The girls LOVE playing with Hunter! Can't you tell he loves it too?

 

 

Yes he is tied to the chair with a Wii remote. And he's smiling.

 

 

 

Then he was done. So of course Joslen is making sure he doesn't "get out". Kenna was "cutting" his hair. When I gave her "the look" because of this little episode,

 

Hunter's "first" haircut. By his sister! I wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry, or be angry. I think I did a little of all of them. At first I thought something was wrong with my precious boy. He must of hit his head or was losing his hair. Until I realized it was a straight line and was CUT. I asked Kenna if she had cut his hair. Her response "Well, umm, I think his hair is just like that mom". When I told her she COULD have hurt him with the scissors she looked at me and said "But I didn't Mom". That child!

 

 

and an episode just a few weeks ago when her and her sister BOTH decided to cut their OWN hair (thats another blog post in the mental file) she quickly replied with "mom, I'm just pretending. I won't ever cut his hair again" and then she busted out laughing. *sigh* That child!

 

And this, this is what a few of my days have looked like. Stripping cloth diapers.

 

 

22 Bumgenius cloth diapers and 50 inserts to be exact. Fun stuf! (insert sarcasm) Although I did spend some time washing the diapers I have done very little laundry since hubs is gone. I swear that man creates more laundry than the whole rest of our family. I usually have AT LEAST one load a day and since he left monday night, I have done ONE, O-N-E load of laundry. I attempted to do a load today and then realized I didn't even have enough for a small load so it looks like the whole 5 days he's gonna be gone I'll do possibly 2 loads of laundry. What the heck hubby?!

 

 

 

And we've had lots of this. They were watching some cartoons while waiting for the bus this morning. They sure do love each other. I sure do love them!

 

Loves!

 

 

 

P.S. lil Tarzan gave me an hour and 20 mins! Wuhoo! And then it took 30 mins for my computer to upload pics. Such is life

 

*note to husband if you should read this. I'm only kidding on the vacation part. I know you are down there working hard. I just like to give you a hard time. On a blog that you can't defend yourself on! :)

 

 

 

Title time

So I started a post the other day to catch every one up on the week that messed up my good blogging habits...then the hubby told me it was time to start cleaning out the basement and when I came back to the computer the next day my half way done post was gone. *sigh* So I will have to catch everyone up a different day. I would be right now but I'm on my phone and the pictures are downstairs on the computer. I actually uploaded pictures of the girls first day of preschool last Tuesday and I'm STILL waiting for them to show up. ( we all survived by the way) Really irritates me! Sorry Mrs. E, I tried but my dumb smartphone didn't cooperate so alas those pics will have to be another day also! *sigh* Since I can't add pictures to my post from my phone (or at least I don't know how to) I decided I'd blog about something that didn't require pictures. Ever wonder where the inspiration of the title of my blog came from? No? Well too bad, today you get to learn. As most of you know I lost my Dad in May after a year long battle with prostate cancer. If you didn't know now you do. Someday I will blog that story also. Just not yet. I think I'm afraid if I blog it, that means it really happened. And in some way I think I'm still in denial. Which I'm okay with. My dad was a lifetime trucker and he's just on a long haul right now. Keep on truckin' Dad. Anyhow, the last year had been trying to say the least. Lots of anger, hate, tears, questions, emptiness, pain, longing, regret, and the list goes on. But along with ALL those bad feelings God has brought many blessings into my family's lives. God's grace is only one of those wonderful gifts I have received. And a gift I probably would have never searched for had my dad not been dying of cancer. Sad isn't it? I grew up believing in God and going to church but I can't say God has ever been a big part of my life. We humans are such mysterious creatures. God has laid out so many riches for us if only we trust and obey Him and yet we run the other way! And then complain about how poor our lives are. I plead guilty here. My intent today is not to preach to you. I just can't help myself from wanting to share a life changing experience. I myself have witnessed the power of prayer, answered prayers, and God's unconditional love! I no longer believe in "just coincidence"... that my friends is the hand of God! I just don't understand what people think living a Christian life is gonna hurt? What are they afraid of? I would much rather live like there is a God, die and find out that there isn't, then live like there ISN'T a God, die and find out that there IS. It only makes sense to me. I'm preaching again sorry, but this is my blog so I suppose I can preach all I want! :) Anyhow, Dads battle was rough and at times I didn't think I was gonna survive so I relied on prayer and music a lot! (and of course good ol' family and friends!) Although there are many songs that helped me thru, there is one particular that has become my lifesong...and the inspiration to my blog title. We get so caught up in the things that go wrong. The poor me life. We fail to see the wonderful blessings God has in store for us if we only weather the storm. "He will not protect you from what He can perfect you thru"....I 150% whole heartedly believe that! So many times people want to "accuse" God. "Why did God allow this" or "why did God do that " we forget to take into account that God gave us free will! It's not always Gods plan we are following! Sometimes it's our own and worse yet sometimes it's Satans! God had wonderful plans laid out for us and yet even when we think we know better and go down a different path then what God had for us, He makes the BEST out of what WE have done to ourselves. THAT folks is one His many BLESSINGS.....


Laura Story: Blessings  (YouTube link)

We pray for blessings 
We pray for peace 
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep 
We pray for healing, for prosperity 
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering 
All the while, You hear each spoken need 
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops 
What if Your healing comes through tears 
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You're near 
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise 
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/laura+story/blessings_20910655.html ] 
We pray for wisdom 
Your voice to hear 
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near 
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love 
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough 
All the while, You hear each desperate plea 
And long that we'd have faith to believe 

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops 
What if Your healing comes through tears 
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You're near 
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise 

When friends betray us 
When darkness seems to win 
We know the pain reminds this heart 
That this is not, this is not our home 

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops 
What if Your healing comes through tears 
And what if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You're near 
What if my greatest disappointments 
Or the aching of this life 
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy 
And what if trials of this life 
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights 
Are Your mercies in disguise

*update* I didn't even think about it until I posted this and was brought to my "posts" page. My catch up post I thought was gone is in my "drafts"!! Wuhoo thank you blogger!!! 

Back on the blogland bandwagon!

6:41 am. I've been up now for precisely 1 hour and 41, now 42 minutes. My alarm will go off in 1 hour and 18 oops 17 minutes. What's the big deal you say?!? I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON! 5 am! 5 am! That's what time I woke up this morning. I still have 3 more hours that I could be blissfully floating in dreamland before I'd hear the alarm and hit snooze for the next 30 possibly 45 minutes before I start my day! I start working at 10am for a reason! I don't like being up at 5am. Oh I have those moments where I say I'm going to start getting up "early" and get a jump start on the day. Those "moments" usually consist of me getting up at 7:30 (ish) for 2 or 3 days and then I remember...I am not a morning person and I conveniently "forget" to set my alarm or I just shut it off and I'm back to my 8:30 (ish) schedule. Hey 8:30 is good. It's a lot better than 10 or 10:30 that I could very easily sleep until. The poor hubs (bless his little heart) gets up at 4:30 on the days he works. We decided 10am wake up for the kids and I just wasn't conducive when we (the kids and I) didn't want to go to bed until 11 and he wanted to crash at 8. So we compromised. He said 6:30. I agreed or maybe just decided 8:30 was better. For "us" that is. Speaking of kids those little beauties are what have me up at 5am. Oh not "them" literally, they aren't morning people either. All of them would sleep till 9:30 or 10 if I'd let them (sometimes I do so I can get a nice QUIET shower in) but today is a VERY big day for all of us! Mr. Hunter is officially on his first FULL day of being ONE! Yesterday was my sweet little boys FIRST birthday! Holy bejeezes where did this last year go?!? Hunters one year blog is on my mental file list. That list is getting pretty long. Maybe if I'd stop taking 19 days off I wouldn't have so much catching up to do! Oh well! And my beautiful little 4 year old twins are going to their first day of preschool!!! This is a HUGE deal for me! My girls have never been to daycare and never been out of my (or my family's) care. Ever. After a very early lunch for us (we usually don't eat until 12:30 and they start school at 12:30 now) I will get them dressed and walk them out to a bus!! Holy crap my babies are going to be on a bus. With other little kids. They better be VERY nice little kids. And on the way home with BIG kids! They better be VERY nice big kids! And then I will kiss them goodbye and take pictures and wave until I can't see the bus anymore and then go inside and cry. Cry with my ONE year old and stew and worry until they come home again. Who said being a momma was easy?!?

There goes my....blog?!

Life once again is getting in the way of my blogging. Darn life. Such is life?! I can't complain. My life is blessed so the less time I've been on the computer means the MORE time I've been spending it soaking up my family. We've been pretty boring this last week or so. The previous post of pictures I tried for 4 days to get on. For some reason my phone wouldn't sent it. Weird. But it's on there now! I took the girls to their first "real" movie in an actual movie theater that day. Yes my children are sheltered and deprived. I'm over it. Honestly the only reason we went was because it was FREE. Yep, good ol' JC plays "older" movies thru the summer every thursday I believe. Anyway, we went to see Dolphin Tale. The girls seemed to like it but got pretty restless. More reason why I'm over the fact that they are sheltered and deprived. Spending a ridiculous amount of money to watch a movie with my 4 year olds just isn't my favorite pass time. I'd rather wait a year 3 months to watch it from the comforts of my home for a $1 from Redbox or on Netflix any day. Just saying. For those of you movies goers sorry not bashing you, more power to ya! :) Don't get me wrong I LOVE a good bucket of movie theater popcorn, just not with my 4 year olds,or very often. Notice I  said bucket of popcorn....once a year movie is good for me, my pocket, and my health! :) This is what a few of our days have been. Celebrating sisters hubby's birthday at the "mesican" restaurant, making lots of flower bows to get ready for Labor Day, and nice "swing" after a family meal at Mr. K's. Long time family friends Dave and Bonnie met us there. I haven't seen them in years (literally) and it was nice to catch up. They are EXACTLY the same as I've always remembered them. Sweet as can be! Great mentors and I hope one day someone will think the same as my hubby and I as I think of them! Good Christian people. Speaking of which, anyone eating Chic-fil-a today? We don't have one close.

My last picture is a few months old but I haven't gotten a chance to blog about it. So it gets thrown in here.

Can you tell what it is?! Besides a spider smarty pants!! I made the picture extra large so it would maybe be a little easier to see. Yes folks, that a BROWN RECLUSE. I hate (the girls are learning hate is not a nice word to use) highly dislike spiders to begin with, let alone one that will try to eat me. Yes, I'm dramatic. I sat next to this thing for like 5 mins. It was stuck in my muffin pan in the stair way. Our make shift storage for some of our "crap". I was so proud of myself for being calm and simply screaming  telling Josh there was a spider he needed to come kill. It was only till he started looking at it did I think I was gonna hyperventilate. BROWN RECLUSE?! WHAT?! YOU'RE LYING! NO WAY! THAT THING COULD HAVE EATEN ME AND I WAS JUST CHILLIN BESIDE IT!?!?!

It didn't try to eat either one of us and yes that's an EMPTY egg sac next to it which means theres more. But this one joined spider heaven via toilet. Thank goodness!!

Well friends. Tis the season. Fair season that is. So we need to get showers and supper started so its ready when hubby gets home so we can eat and head out the door. The girls are going to ride their first ever carnival rides. (yes, my children are sheltered and deprived) We bought wrist bands for them so we are going to ride rides from 7pm-10pm to get every last cents worth out of it. I've already warned Joslen she IS riding, whether she likes it or not. (last year we had huge fits because we DIDN'T ride rides) Does that make me a bad mom? Hmm, questionable but the dang things were $18! Holy bejeezes! Parade tomorrow, rodeo Friday, and demo Sunday. Yep, we're a little redneck. This is just our style! :) Pictures to come, thats if I remember! Happy Hump Day! Love!!